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EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY 
EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS 



BIOGRAPHY 



ROBERT SOUTHEY'S 
LIFE OF NELSON 



THIS IS NO. 52 OF eV8%r3i^D<iS 

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London: J. M. DENT & SONS, Ltd. 
New York: E. P. DUTTON & CO. 



a^eLIFES^ 
HORATIO 
feKiNELSON 
e/ROBERT 
SOUTHEY 




LONDON SlTORONTO 
PUBLISHED BYJ M DENT 

&.SONS HP &.IN NEWYORK 
BYE P DUTTON &. CO 



I! ft 87 

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First Issue of tkis Edition . March 1906 
Reprinted .... May 1906; April 1908; 

January 1910; /««<? 1912; 

iWrty 1915; August 1919 






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EDITOR'S NOTE 



The Life of Nelson is an instance of a fine book which 
grew out of an article. Southey had become a regular con- 
tributor to the '• Quarterly Review " in 1808, chiefly through 
the agency of Sir Walter Scott; and an article on Nelson, 
published in its columns, was the " small sketch " of which 
the Life was the enlargement. This '* peerless model of 
short biographies," as Dr. Richard Garnett has termed it, 
appeared first in two volumes in 1813 — two years before 
Waterloo, an auspicious time for an heroic cartoon to be 
published in England. However, the book was not at 
once a market-success, and Southey himself thought it as 
a work of literary art far inferior to other works of his 
which are, and not in every case advisedly, forgotten. 
The one companion work of biography, in which Southey 
excelled, is his Life of John Wesley, which appeared seven 
years later. His " Lives of the British Admirals," written 
for Lardner's " Cabinet Cyclopaedia " (1833-40), cannot be 
compared with his *' Nelson," though his life of Lord 
Howard of Effingham, and his account of the defeat of the 
Spanish Armada in that volume, are admirably done, and 
in the vein which gave us the earlier work. 

The following is the elaborate table of the published 
works of Robert Southey (1774-1843) :— 

An early contribution — a protest against excessive flogging — 
to his school magazine caused Southey to be expelled from 
Westminster; The Fall of Robespierre, A Tragedy (with 
Coleridge and Lovell), 1794 ; Poems, by Lovell and Southey 
(Bion and Moschus), 1795 ; Poems, 1797 ; Letters written 



viii Editors Note 



during a Short Residence in Spain and Portugal, 1797; 
Thalaba, the Destroyer, 1801 ; Amadis of Gaul (trans.), i8oj ; 
Madoc, 1805 ; Palmerin of England (corrected by S.), 1807 ; 
Specimens of the later English poets, with Preliminary Notes, 
1807 ; Letters from England by Don Manuel Alvarez Espriella. 
1807; The Cid (trans.), 1808; History of Brazil, 1810-19; The 
Curse of Kehama, 1810 ; Omniana, 1812; Life of Nelson, 1813 ; 
Roderick, the Last of the Goths, 1814 ; Carmen Triumphale, 
1814; Odes to Prince Regent, and others, 1814; The Poet's 
Pilgrimage to Waterloo, 1816; Carmen Nuptiale (Marriage of 
Princess Charlotte), 1816 ; Life of Wesley, 1820 ; A Vision of 
Judgment, 182 1 ; The Expedition of Orsna and the Crimes of 
Aguirre (from the Edinburgh Annual Register), 1821 ; History 
of the Peninsular War, 1823-32 ; The Book of the Church, 
1824; A Tale of Paraguay, poem, 182=;: Vindiriae Anglican?e, 
1826; "All for Love" and "The Pilgrim of Compostella," 
1829 ; Sir Thomas More, or Colloquies on the I'rogress and 
Prospects of Society, 1829 ; Life of Bunyan (prefixed to ed. 
Pilgrim's Progress), 1830; Introductory Essay to "Attempts 
in Verse by John Jones, a Servant," 183 1 ; The Devil's Walk 
(S. and Coleridge), 1831 ; Select Works of the British Poets, 
with Biographical Sketches, 1831 ; Life of Cowper (prefixed to 
ed. of works), 1833-7 ; Lives of the British Admirals, 1833-40 ; 
The Doctor, 1834-7 ; Memoir of T. Watts (prefixed to poems), 
1837; Life of Rev. Andrew Bell (ist vol.), 1844; Commonplace 
Book, ed. J. W. Warter, 1849-51. 

Southey also edited : — Chatterton's Works (with Cottle) ; 
the Remains of Kirke White, with account of his life; Malory's 
" Morte Darthur"; and the "Annual Anthology." He was 
editor of the Edinburgh Annual Register, and contributed 
largely to the Quarterly Review ; some of his articles were 
published in 1832 as " Essays Moral and Political " ; his " Life 
of Cromwell " (from the Quarterly) was published, with his 
Bunyan, in 1844. 

Collected Works and Selections. — Poetical Works, 10 vols., 
1837-8, 1841, 1843, 1850; Life and Correspondence, ed. by his 
son, 1849-50; Selections from his correspondence, J. W. Warter, 
1856. 

1906. 



THE LIFE OF NELSON 



CHAPTER I 

Horatio, son ot Edmund and Catherine Nelson, 
was born September 29, 1758, in the parsonage house 
of Buraham Thorpe, a village in the county of 
Norfolk, of which his father was rector. The maiden 
name of his mother was Suckling : her grandmother 
was an elder sister of Sir Robert Walpole, and this child 
was named after his godfather, the first Lord Walpole. 
Mrs. Nelson died in 1767, leaving eight, out of eleven, 
children. Her brother. Captain Maurice Suckling, of 
the Navy, visited the widower upon this event, and 
promised to take care of one of the boys. Three years 
afterwards, when Horatio was only twelve years of 
age, being at home during the Christmas holidays, he 
read in the county newspaper that his uncle was 
appointed to the Raisonnable, of 64 guns. '* Do, 
William," said he to a brother who was a year and a 
half older than himself, '* write to my father, and tell 
him that I should Uke to go to sea with Uncle 
Maurice." Mr. Nelson was then at Bath, whither he 
had gone for the recovery of his health : his cir- 
cumstances were straitened and he had no 
prospect of ever seeing them bettered : he knew that 
it was the wish of providing for himself by which 
Horatio was chiefly actuated, and did not oppose his 
resolution; he understood also the boy's character, and 
had always said, that in whatever station he might be 



2 Robert Southey s 

placed, he would climb, if possible, to the very top of 
the tree. Accordingly Captain Suckling- was written 
to. *'What,*' said he in his answer, "has poor 
Horatio done, who is so weak, that he, above all the 
rest, should be sent to rough it out at sea? But let 
him come, and the first time we go into action, a 
cannon-ball may knock off his head, and provide for 
him at once. ' ' 

It is manifest from these words, that Horatio was 
not the boy whom his uncle would have chosen to 
bring up in his own profession. He was never of a 
strong body ; and the ague, which at that time was one 
of the most common diseases in England, had greatly 
reduced his strength ; yet he had already given proofs 
of that resolute heart and nobleness of mind, which, 
during his whole career of labour and of glory, so 
eminently distinguished him. When a mere child, he 
strayed birds-nesting from his mother's house in com- 
pany with a cow-boy : the dinner-hour elapsed ; he was 
absent, and could not be found ; and the alarm of the 
family became very great, for they apprehended that 
he might have been carried off by the gipsies. At 
length, after search had been made for him in various 
directions, he was discovered alone, sitting com- 
posedly by the side of a brook, which he could not get 
over. ** I wonder, child," said the old lady when she 
saw him, " that hunger and fear did not drive you 
home." "Fear! grandmamma," replied the future 
hero, " I never saw fear : what is it? " Once, after 
the winter holidays, when he and his brother William 
had set off on horseback to return to school, they came 
back because there had been a fall of snow; and 
William, who did not much like the journey, said it 
was too deep for them to venture on. "If that be the 
case," said the father, "you certainly shall not go; 
but make another attempt, and I will leave it to your 
honour. If the road is dangerous you may return : 
but remember, boys, I leave it to your honour." 



Life of Nelson 3 

The snow was deep enough to have afforded them a 
reasonable excuse; but Horatio was not to be pre- 
vailed upon to turn back. ** We must go on," said 
he; ** remember, brother, it was left to our honour ! " 
There were some fine pears growing in the school- 
master's garden, which the boys regarded as lawful 
booty, and in the highest degree tempting; but 
the boldest among them were afraid to venture 
for the prize. Horatio volunteered upon this service : 
he was lowered down at night from the bed-room 
window by some sheets, plundered the tree, was 
drawn up with the pears, and then distributed them 
among his school-fellows, without reserving any for 
himself. *' He only took them," he said, *' because 
every other boy was afraid." 

Early on a cold and dark spring morning Mr. 
Nelson's servant arrived at this school at North Wal- 
sham with the expected summons for Horatio to join 
his ship. The parting from his brother William, who 
had been for so many years his playmate and bed- 
fellow, was a painful eifort, and was the beginning of 
those privations which are the sailor's lot through life. 
He accompanied his father to London. The Raison- 
nahle was lying in the Medway. He was put into the 
Chatham stage, and on its arrival was set down with 
the rest of the passengers, and left to find his way on 
board as he could. After wandering about in the cold, 
without being able to reach the ship, an officer 
observed the forlorn appearance of the boy, questioned 
him, and happening to be acquainted with his uncle, 
took him home, and gave him some refreshments. 
When he got on board. Captain Suckling was not in 
the ship, nor had any person been apprised of the 
boy's coming. He paced the deck the whole re- 
mainder of the day, without being noticed by any one ; 
and it was not till the second day that somebody, as 
he expressed it, ** took compassion on him." The 
pain which is felt when we are first transplanted from 



4 Robert Southey's 

our native soil — when the living- branch is cut from 
the parent tree — is one of the most poig-nant which we 
have to endure through life. There are after-griefs 
which wound more deeply, which leave behind them 
scars never to be effaced, which bruise the spirit, and 
sometimes break the heart : but never, never do we 
feel so keenly the want of love, the necessity of being 
loved, and the sense of utter desertion, as when we 
first leave the haven of home, and are, as it were, 
pushed off upon the stream of life. Added to these 
feelings, the sea-boy has to endure physical hardships, 
and the privation of every comfort, even of sleep. 
Nelson had a feeble body and an affectionate heart, 
and he remembered through life his first days of 
wretchedness in the service. 

The Raisonnahle having been commissioned on 
account of the dispute respecting the Falkland Islands, 
was paid off as soon as the difference with the Court 
of Spain was accommodated, and Captain Suckling 
was removed to the Triumph, 74, then stationed as a 
guard-ship in the Thames. This was considered as 
too inactive a life for a boy, and Nelson was therefore 
sent a voyage to the West Indies in a merchant-ship, 
commanded by Mr. John Rathbone, an excellent sea- 
man, who had served as master's-mate under Captain 
Suckling in the Dreadnought. He returned a prac- 
tical seaman, but with a hatred of the king's service, 
and a saying then common among the sailors — ** Aft 
the most honour; forward, the better man." Rath- 
bone had probably been disappointed and disgusted in 
the navy; and, with no unfriendly intentions, warned 
Nelson against the profession which he himself had 
found hopeless. His uncle received him on board the 
Triumph on his return, and discovering his dislike to 
the navy, took the best means of reconciling him to 
it. He held it out as a reward, that if he attended 
well to his navigation, he should go in the cutter and 
decked longboat, which was attached to the com- 
manding officer's ship at Chatham. Thus he became 



Life of Nelson 5 

a good pilot for vessels of that description from Chat- 
ham to the Tower, and down the Swin Channel to the 
North Foreland, and acquired a confidence among 
rocks and sands of which he often felt the value. 

Nelson had not been many months on board the 
Triumph, when his love of enterprise was excited by 
hearing that two ships were fitting out for a voyage 
of discovery toward the North Pole. In consequence 
of the difficulties which were expected on such a ser- 
vice, these vessels were to take out effective men, 
instead of the usual number of boys. This, however, 
did not deter him from soliciting to be received, and 
by his uncle's interest he was admitted as coxswain 
under Captain Lutwidge, second in command. The 
voyage was undertaken in compliance with an applica- 
tion from the Royal Society. The Hon. Captain Con- 
stantine John Phipps, eldest son of Lord Mulgrave, 
volunteered his services. The Racehorse and Carcass 
bombs were selected, as the strongest ships, and there- 
fore best adapted for such a voyage ; and they were 
taken into dock and strengthened, to render them as 
secure as possible against the ice. Two masters of 
Greenlandmen were employed as pilots for each 
ship. No expedition was ever more carefully fitted 
out ; and the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Sand- 
wich, with a laudable solicitude, went on board him- 
self, before their departure, to see that everything had 
been completed to the wish of the officers. The ships 
were provided with a simple and excellent apparatus 
for distilling fresh from salt water, the invention of 
Dr. Irving, who accompanied the expedition. It 
consisted merely in fitting a tube to the ship's kettle, 
and applying a wet mop to the surface as the vapour 
was passing. By these means from thirty-four to 
forty gallons were produced every day. 

They sailed from the Nore on the 4th of June : on 
the 6th of the following month they were in lat. 79° 
56' 39" ; long. 9° 43' 30'^ E. The next day, about the 
place where most of the old discoverers had been 



6 Robert Southey's 

stopped, the Racehorse was beset with ice; but they 
heaved her through with ice-anchors. Captain Phipps 
continued ranging along the ice northward and west- 
ward till the 24th : he then tried to the eastward. On 
the 30th he was in lat. 80° 13' ; long. 18° 48' E. among 
the islands and in the ice, with no appearance of an 
opening for the ships. The weather was exceedingly 
fine, mild, and unusually clear. Here they were 
becalmed in a large bay, with three apparent openings 
between the islands which formed it ; but everywhere, 
as far as they could see, surrounded with ice. There 
was not a breath of air; the water perfectly smooth; 
the ice covered with snow, low and even, except a few 
broken pieces near the edge; and the pools of water 
in the middle of the ice-fields just crusted over with 
young ice. On the next day the ice closed upon them, 
and no opening was to be seen anywhere, except a 
hole, or lake, as it might be called, of about a mile and 
a half in circumference, where the ships lay fast to the 
ice with their ice-anchors. They filled their casks with 
water from these ice-fields, which was very pure and 
soft. The men were playing on the ice all day : but 
the Greenland pilots, who were farther than they had 
ever been before, and considered that the season was 
advancing, were alarmed at being thus beset. 

The next day there was not the smallest opening, 
the ships were within less than two lengths of each 
other, separated by ice, and neither having room to 
turn. The ice, which yesterday had been all flat, and 
almost level with the water's edge, was now in many 
places forced higher than the mainyard, by the pieces 
squeezing together. A day of thick fog followed : it 
was succeeded by clear weather; but the passage by 
which the ships had entered from the westward was 
closed, and no open water was in sight either in that 
or any other quarter. By the pilots* advice the men 
were set to work to cut a passage and warp through 
the small openings to the westward. They sawed 
through pieces twelve feet thick; and this labour con- 



Life of Nelson 7 

tinued the whole day, during which their utmost 
efforts did not move the ships above three hundred 
yards; while they were driven, together with the ice, 
far to the N.E. and E. by the current. Sometimes a 
field of several acres square would be lifted up between 
two larger islands, and incorporated with them : and 
thus these larger pieces continued to grow by aggre- 
gation. Another day passed, and there seemed no 
probability of getting the ships out, without a strong 
E. or N.E. wind. The season was far advanced, and 
every hour lessened the chance of extricating them- 
selves. Young as he was, Nelson was appointed to 
command one of the boats which were sent out to 
explore a passage into the open water. It was the 
means of saving a boat belonging to the Racehorse 
from a singular but Imminent danger. Some of the 
officers had fired at and wounded a walrus. As no 
other animal has so human-like an expression in its 
countenance, so also is there none that seems to 
possess more of the passions of humanity. The 
wounded one dived immediately, and brought up a 
number of its companions ; and they all joined In an 
attack upon the boat. They wrested an oar from one 
of the men ; and It was with the utmost difficulty that 
the crew could prevent them from staving or upsetting 
her, till the Carcass's boat came up : and the walruses, 
finding their enemies thus reinforced, dispersed. 
Young Nelson exposed himself in a more daring 
manner. One night, during the mid-watch, he stole 
from the ship with one of his comrades, taking 
advantage of a rising fog, and set out over the ice in 
pursuit of a bear. It was not long before they were 
missed. The fog thickened, and Captain Lutwidge 
and his officers became exceedingly alarmed for their 
safety. Between three and four In the morning the 
weather cleared, and the two adventurers were seen, 
at a considerable distance from the ship, attacking a 
huge bear. The signal for them to return was 
immediately made; Nelson's comrade called upon him 



8 Robert Southey's 

to obey it, but in vain ; his musket had flashed in the 
pan ; their ammunition was expended ; and a chasm in 
the ice, which divided him from the bear, probably 
preserved his life. "Never mind," he cried; ** do 
but let me get a blow at this devil with the butt-end 
of my musket, and we shall have him." Captain 
Lutwidg-e, however, seeing his danger, fired a gun, 
which had the desired effect of frightening the beast ; 
and the boy then returned, somewhat afraid of the 
consequences of his trespass. The captain repri- 
manded him sternly for conduct so unworthy of the 
office which he filled, and desired to know what motive 
he could have for hunting a bear. ** Sir," said he, 
pouting his lip, as he was wont to do when agitated, 
' * I wished to kill the bear, that I might carry the skin 
to my father." 

A party were now sent to an island, about twelve 
miles off (named Walden's Island in the charts, from 
the midshipman who was intrusted with this service), 
to see where the open water lay. They came back on 
the 6th, with information that the ice, though close all 
about them, was open to the westward, round the point 
by which they came in. They said also, that upon the 
island they had had a fresh east wind. This intelli- 
gence considerably abated the hopes of the crew, for 
where they lay it had been almost calm, and their main 
dependence had been upon the effect of an easterly wind 
in clearing the bay. There was but one alternative : 
either to wait the event of the weather upon the ships, 
or to betake themselves to the boats. The likelihood 
that it might be necessary to sacrifice the ships had 
been foreseen; the boats accordingly were adapted, 
both in number and size, to transport, in case of emer- 
gency, the whole crew ; and there were Dutch whalers 
upon the coast, in which they could all be conveyed to 
Europe. As for wintering where they were, that 
dreadful experiment had been already tried too often. 
No time was to be lost ; the ships had driven into 
shoal water, having but fourteen fathoms. Should 



Life of Nelson 9 

they, or the ice to which they were fast, take the 
ground, they must Inevitably be lost : and at this time 
they were driving fast toward some rocks on the N. E. 
Captain Phipps sent for the officers of both ships, and 
told them his intention of preparing- the boats for 
going away. They were immediately hoisted out, and 
the fitting began. Canvas bread-bags were made, in 
case it should be necessary suddenly to desert the 
vessels ; and men were sent with the lead and line to 
the northward and eastward, to sound wherever they 
found cracks in the ice, that they might have notice 
before the ice took the ground ; for, in that case, the 
ships must instantly have been crushed, or overset. 

On the 7th they began to haul the boats over the ice, 
Nelson having command of the four-oared cutter. 
The men behaved excellently well, like true British 
seamen : they seemed reconciled to the thought of 
leaving the ships, and had full confidence in their 
officers. About noon, the ice appeared rather more 
open near the vessels; and as the wind was easterly, 
though there was but little of it, the sails were set, 
and they got about a mile to the westward. They 
moved very slowly, and were not now nearly so fnr to 
the westward as when they were first beset. How- 
ever, all sail was kept upon them, to force them 
through whenever the ice slacked the least. What- 
ever exertions were made, it could not be possible to 
get the boats to the water edge before the 14th ; and 
if the situation of the ships should not alter by that 
time, it would not be justifiable to stay longer by 
them. The commander therefore resolved to carry on 
both attempts together, moving the boats constantly, 
and taking every opportunity of getting the ships 
through. A party was sent out next day to the west- 
ward, to examine the state of the ice : they returned 
with tidings that it was very heavy and close, con- 
sisting chiefly of large fields. The ships, however, 
moved something, and the ice itself was drifting west- 
ward. There was a thick fog, so that it was im- 



lo Robert Southey's 

possible to ascertain what advantage had been gained. 
It continued on the 9th; but the ships were moved a 
little through some very small openings : the 
mist cleared off in the afternoon; and it was 
then perceived that they had driven much more 
than could have been expected to the westward, 
and that the ice itself had driven still farther. In 
the course of the day they got past the boats, and 
took them on board again. On the morrow the 
wind sprang up to the N.N.E. All sail was set, 
and the ships forced their way through a great deal of 
very heavy ice. They frequently struck, and with 
such force, that one stroke broke the shank of the 
Racehorse's best bower anchor: but the vessels made 
way; and by noon they had cleared the ice, and were 
out at sea. The next day they anchored in Smeeren- 
berg Harbour, close to that island of which the 
westernmost point is called Hakluyt's Headland, in 
honour of the great promoter and compiler of our 
English voyages of discovery. 

Here they remained a few days, that the men might 
rest after their fatigue. No insect was to be seen in 
this dreary country, nor any species of reptile, not 
even the common earthworm. Large bodies of ice, 
called icebergs, filled up the valleys between high 
mountains, so dark as, when contrasted with the 
snow, to appear black. The colour of the ice was a 
lively light green. Opposite to the place where they 
fixed their observatory was one of these icebergs, 
above three hundred feet high : its side towards the 
sea was nearly perpendicular, and a stream of water 
issued from it. Large pieces frequently broke off, and 
thundered down into the sea. There was no thunder 
nor lightning during the whole time they were in these 
latitudes. The sky was generally loaded with hard 
white clouds, from which it was never entirely free, 
even in the clearest weather. They always knew 
when they were approaching the ice long before they 
saw it, by a bright appearance near the horizon, which 



Life of Nelson ii 

the Greenlandmen called the blink of the ice. The 
season was now so far advanced, that nothing more 
could have been attempted, if indeed anything had 
been left untried : but the summer had been unusually 
favourable, and they had carefully surveyed the wall of 
ice extending for more than twenty degrees between 
the latitudes of 80° and 81°, without the smallest 
appearance of any opening. 

The ships were paid off shortly after their return to 
England; and Nelson was then placed, by his uncle, 
with Captain Farmer, in the Seahorsey of 20 guns, 
then going out to the East Indies in the squadron 
under Sir Edward Hughes. He was stationed in the 
foretop at watch and watch. His good conduct 
attracted the attention of the master (afterwards Cap- 
tain Surridge), in whose watch he was ; and, upon 
his recommendation, the captain rated him as mid- 
shipman. At this time his countenance was florid, 
and his appearance rather stout and athletic; but, 
when he had been about eighteen months in India, he 
felt the effects of that climate, so perilous to 
European constitutions. The disease baffled all power 
of medicine ; he was reduced almost to a skeleton ; the 
use of his limbs was for some time entirely lost ; and 
the only hope that remained was from a voyage home. 
Accordingly he was brought home by Captain Pigot, 
in the Dolphin; and had it not been for the attentive 
and careful kindness of that officer on the way, Nelson 
would never have lived to reach his native shores. 
He had formed acquaintance with Sir Charles Pole, 
Sir Thomas Trowbridge, and other distinguished 
officers, then, like himself, beginning their career ; he 
had left them pursuing that career in full enjoyment 
of health and hope, and was returnino- from a country 
in which all things were to him new and interesting, 
with a body broken down by sickness, and spirits 
which had sunk with his strength. Long afterwards, 
when the name of Nelson was known as widely as that 
of England itself, he spoke of the feelings which he at 



12 Robert Southeys 

this time endured. ** I felt impressed,*' said he, 
**with a feeling that I should never rise in my pro- 
fession. My mind was staggered with a view of the 
difficulties I had to surmount, and the little interest I 
possessed. I could discover no means of reaching the 
object of my ambition. After a long and gloomy 
reverie, in which I almost wished myself overboard, a 
sudden glow of patriotism was kindled within me, and 
presented by king and country as my patron. Well, 
then," I exclaimed, " I will be a hero ! and, confiding 
in Providence, I will brave every danger!" Long 
afterwards Nelson loved to speak of the feeling of that 
moment ; and from that time, he often said, a radiant 
orb was suspended in his mind's eye, which urged him 
onward to renown. The state of mind in which these 
feehngs began, is what the mystics mean by their sea- 
son of darkness, of aridity, and of desertion. If the 
animal spirits of coarser enthusiasts fail, they repre- 
sent it as an actual temptation, a snare of Satan. 
The enthusiasm of Nelson's nature had taken a 
different direction, but in its essence it was the same. 
He knew to what the previous state of dejection was 
to be attributed ; that an enfeebled body, and a mind 
depressed, had cast this shade over his soul; but he 
always seemed willing to believe, that the sunshine 
which succeeded bore with it a prophetic glory, and 
that the light which led him on was *' light from 
heaven. ' ' 

His interest, however, was far better than he 
imagined. During his absence. Captain Suckling had 
been made Comptroller of the Navy; his health had 
materially improved upon the voyage; and, as soon 
as the Dolphin was paid off, he was appointed acting 
lieutenant in the WorcesteYy 64, Captain Mark Robin- 
son, then going out with convoy to Gibraltar. Soon 
after his return, on the 8th of April 1777, he passed 
his examination for a lieutenancy. Captain Suckling 
sat at the head of the board, and when the examina- 
tion had ended, in a manner highly honourable to 



Life of Nelson 13 

Nelson, rose from his seat, and introduced him to 
the examining captains as his nephew. They ex- 
pressed their wonder that he had not informed them 
of this relationship before; he replied that he did not 
wish the younker to be favoured ; he knew his nephew 
would pass a good examination, and he had not been 
deceived. The next day Nelson received his com- 
mission as second lieutenant of the Lowestoffe frigate, 
Captain William Locker, then fitting out for Jamaica. 

American and French privateers, under American 
colours, were at that time harassing our trade in the 
West Indies : even a frigate was not sufficiently active 
for Nelson, and he repeatedly got appointed to the 
command of one of the Lowestoffe' s tenders. During 
one of their cruises the Lowestoffe captured an 
American letter-of-marque : it was blowing a gale, and 
a heavy sea running. The first lieutenant being 
ordered to board the prize, went below to put on his 
hanger. It happened to be mislaid ; and, while he was 
seeking it. Captain Locker came on deck. Perceiving 
the boat still alongside, and in danger every moment 
of being swamped, and being extremely anxious that 
the privateer should be instantly taken in charge, 
because he feared that it would otherwise founder, he 
exclaimed, " Have I no officer in the ship who can 
board the prize? '* Nelson did not offer himself 
immediately, waiting, with his usual sense of pro- 
priety, for the first lieutenant's return; but hearing 
the master volunteer, he jumped into the boat, saying, 
*' It is my turn now; and if I come back, it is yours." 
The American, who had carried a heavy press of sail 
in hope of escaping, was so completely water-logged 
that the Lowestoffe' s boat went in on deck, and out 
again, with the sea. 

About this time he lost his uncle. Captain Locker, 
however, who had perceived the excellent qualities of 
Nelson, and formed a friendship for him, which con- 
tinued during his life, recommended him warmly to 
Sir Peter Parker, then commander-in-chief upon that 



14 Robert Southeys 

station. In consequence of this recommendation he 
was removed into the Bristol flagship, and Lieutenant 
Cuthbert ColUngvvood succeeded him in the Lowes- 
toffe. He soon became first lieutenant ; and on the 8th 
of December, 1778, was appointed commander of the 
Badger brig : Collingwood again succeeding him in 
the Bristol. While the Badger was lying in Montego 
Bay, Jamaica, the Glasgow, of 20 guns, came in and 
anchored there, and in two hours was in flames, the 
steward having set fire to her while stealing rum out 
of the after-hold. Her crew were leaping into the 
water, when Nelson came up in his boats, made them 
throw their powder overboard, and point their guns 
upward; and, by his presence of mind and personal 
exertions, prevented the loss of life which would other- 
wise have ensued. On the nth of June, 1779, he was 
made post into the Hinchinhrook, of 28 guns, an 
enemy's merchant-man, sheathed with wood, which 
had been taken into the service. A short time after he 
left the Lowestoffe, that ship, with a small squadron, 
stormed the fort of St. Fernando de Omoa, on the 
south side of the bay of Honduras, and captured some 
register ships which were lying under its guns. Two 
hundred and fifty quintals of quicksilver, and three 
millions of piastres, were the reward of this enterprise : 
and it is characteristic of Nelson, that the chance by 
which he missed a share in such a prize is never men- 
tioned in any of his letters ; nor is it likely that it ever* 
excited even a momentary feeling of vexation. 

Nelson was fortunate in possessing good interest at 
the time when it could be most serviceable to him ; his 
promotion had been almost as rapid as it could be; 
and before he had attained the age of twenty-one he 
had gained that rank which brought all the honours of 
the service within his reach. No opportunity, indeed, 
had yet been given him of distinguishing himself ; but 
he was thoroughly master of his profession, and his 
zeal and ability were acknowledged wherever he was 
known. Count d'Estaing, with a fleet of 125 sail, 



Life of Nelson 15 

men-of-war and transports, and a reputed force of five- 
and-twenty thousand men, threatened Jamaica from 
St. Domingo. Nelson offered his services to the Ad- 
miral and to Governor-General Bailing, and was ap- 
pointed to command the batteries of Fort Charles, at 
Port Royal. Not more than seven thousand men 
could be mustered for the defence of the island, — a 
number wholly inadequate to resist the force which 
threatened them. Of this Nelson was so well aware, 
that when he wrote to his friends in England, he told 
them they must not be surprised to hear of his learn- 
ing to speak French. D'Estaing, however, was either 
not aware of his own superiority, or not equal to the 
command with which he was intrusted ; he attempted 
nothing with this formidable armament ; and General 
Bailing was thus left to execute a project which he 
had formed against the Spanish colonies. 

This project was to take Fort San Juan, on the river 
of that name, which flows from Lake Nicaragua into 
the Atlantic; make himself master of the lake itself, 
and of the cities of Granada and Leon ; and thus cut 
off the communication of the Spaniards between their 
northern and southern possessions in America. Here 
it is that a canal between the two seas may most easily 
be formed — a work more important in its consequences 
than any which has ever yet been effected by human 
power. Lord George Germaine, at that time Secre- 
tary of State for the American Department, approved 
the plan : and as discontents at that time were known 
to prevail in the Nuevo Reyno, in Popayan, and in 
Peru, the more sanguine part of the English began to 
dream of acquiring an empire in one part of America 
more extensive than that which they were on the point 
of losing in another. General Balling's plans were 
well formed ; but the history and the nature of the 
country had not been studied as accurately as its geo- 
graphy. The difficulties which occurred in fitting out 
the expedition delayed it till the season was too far 
advanced ; and the men were thus sent to adventure 



1 6 Robert Sou they s 

themselves, not so much against an enemy whom they 
would have beaten, as against a climate which would 
do the enemy's work. 

Early in the year 1780, five hundred men, destined 
for this service, were convoyed by Nelson from Port 
Royal to Cape Gracias a Dios, in Honduras. Not a 
native was to be seen when they landed : they had 
been taught that the English came with no other 
intent than that of enslaving them, and sending them 
to Jamaica. After a while, however, one of them 
ventured down, confiding in his knowledge of one of 
the party; and by his means the neighbouring tribes 
were conciliated with presents, and brought in. The 
troops were encamped on a swampy and unwholesome 
plain, where they were joined by a party of the 79th 
Regiment, from Black River, who were already in a 
deplorable st^te of sickness. Having remained here a 
month, they proceeded, anchoring frequently, along 
the Mosquito shore, to collect their Indian allies, who 
were to furnish proper boats for the river, and to 
accompany them. They reached the river San Juan, 
March 24th; and here, according to his orders, Nel- 
son's services were to terminate; but not a man in the 
expedition had ever been up the river, or knew the dis- 
tances of any fortification from its mouth : and he, not 
being one who would turn back when so much was to 
be done, resolved to carry the soldiers up. About two 
hundred, therefore, were embarked in the Mosquito 
shore craft, and in two of the Hinchinbrook's boats, 
and they began their way. It was the latter end of 
the dry season, the worst time for such an expedition ; 
the river was consequently low. Indians were sent 
forward through narrow channels between shoals and 
sandbanks ; and the men were frequently obliged to 
quit the boats, and exert their utmost strength to drag 
or thrust them along. The labour continued for 
several days, then they came into deeper water; but 
then they had sometimes currents and rapids to con- 
tend with, which would have been insurmountable had 



Life of Nelson 17 

it not been for the skill of the Indians in such diffi- 
culties. The brunt of the labour was borne by them, 
and by the sailors — men never accustomed to stand 
aloof when any exertion of strength or hardihood is 
required. The soldiers, less accustomed to rely upon 
themselves, were of little use. But all equally endured 
the violent heat of the sun, rendered more intense by 
being reflected from the white shoals, and because the 
high woods on both sides of the river were frequently 
so close as to prevent all refreshing circulation of air ; 
and during the night all were equally exposed to the 
heavy and unwholesome dews. 

On the 9th of April they reached an island in the 
river called St. Bartolomeo, which the Spaniards had 
fortified as an outpost, with a small semicircular bat- 
tery, mounting nine or ten swivels, and manned with 
sixteen or eighteen men. It commanded the river in 
a rapid and difficult part of the navigation. Nelson, 
at the head of a few of his seamen, leaped upon the 
beach. The ground upon which he sprang was so 
muddy that he had some difficulty in extricating him- 
self, and lost his shoes : barefooted, however, he ad- 
vanced, and, in his own phrase, boarded the battery. 
In this resolute attempt he was bravely supported by 
Despard, who was at that time a captain in the army, 
and whose after fate was so disastrous. The Castle 
of St. Juan is situated about sixteen miles higher up : 
the stores and ammunition, however, were landed a 
few miles below the castle, and the men had to march 
through woods almost impassable. One of the men 
was bitten under the eye by a snake, which darted 
upon him from the bough of a tree. He was unable 
to proceed for the violence of the pain ; and when, 
after a short while, some of his comrades were sent 
back to assist him, he was dead, and the body already 
putrid. Nelson himself narrowly escaped a similar 
fate. He had ordered his hammock to be slung under 
some trees, being excessively fatigued, and was sleep- 
ing when a monitory lizard passed across his face. 



1 8 Robert Southey's 

The Indians happily observed the reptile, and, know- 
ing what it indicated, awoke him. He started up, and 
found one of the deadliest serpents of the country 
coiled up at his feet. He suffered from poison of 
another kind ; for, drinking at a spring in which some 
boughs of the manchineel had been thrown, the effects 
were so severe, as, in the opinion of some of his 
friends, to inflict a lasting injury upon his constitu- 
tion. 

The Castle of St. Juan is thirty-two miles below the 
Lake of Nicaragua, from which it issues, and sixty- 
nine from the mouth of the river. Boats reach the sea 
from thence in a day and a half ; but their navigation 
back, even when unladen, is the labour of nine days. 
The English appeared before it on the eleventh, two 
days after they had taken St. Bartolomeo. Nelson's 
advice was, that it should instantly be carried by 
assault; but Nelson was not the commander, and it 
was thought proper to observe all the formalities of a 
siege. Ten days were wasted before this could be 
commenced : it was a work more of fatigue than of 
danger ; but fatigue was more to be dreaded than the 
enemy. The rains set in ; and could the garrison have 
held out a little longer, disease would have rid them of 
their invaders. Even the Indians sunk under it, the 
victims of unusual exertion and of their own excesses. 
The place surrendered on the 24th. But victory pro- 
cured to the conquerors none of that relief which had 
been expected ; the castle was worse than a prison ; 
and it contained nothing which could contribute to 
the recovery of the sick, or the preservation of those 
who were yet unaffected. The huts, which served for 
hospitals, were surrounded with filth and with the 
putrefying hides of slaughtered cattle — almost suffi- 
cient of themselves to have engendered pestilence ; and 
when at last orders were given to erect a convenient 
hospital, the contagion had become so general that 
there were none who could work at it; for, besides 
the few who were able to perform garrison duty, there 



Life of Nelson 19 

were not orderly men enough to assist the sick. 
Added to these evils, there was the want of all needful 
remedies ; for though the expedition had been amply 
provided with hospital stores, river-craft enough had 
not been procured for transporting the requisite bag- 
gage; and when much was to be left behind, provi- 
sion for sickness was that which of all things men in 
health would be most ready to leave. Now, when 
these medicines were required, the river was swollen 
and so turbulent that its upward navigation was al- 
most impracticable. At length even the task of bury- 
ing the dead was more than the Uving could perform, 
and the bodies were tossed into the stream, or left for 
beasts of prey, and for the gallinazos — those dreadful 
carrion-birds, which do not always wait for death 
before they begin their work. Five months the 
English persisted in what may be called this war 
against nature ; they then left a few men, who seemed 
proof against the climate, to retain the castle till the 
Spaniards should choose, when the fit season arrived, 
to retake it and make them prisoners. The rest aban- 
doned their baleful conquest. Eighteen hundred men 
were sent to different posts upon this wretched ex- 
pedition ; not more than three hundred and eighty ever 
returned. The Hinchinhr^ok's complement consisted 
of two hundred men ; eighty-seven took to their beds 
in one night, and of the whole crew not more than ten 
survived. 

Nelson himself was saved by a timely removal. In 
a few days after the commencement of the siege he 
was seized with the prevailing dysentery : meantime 
Captain Glover (son of the author of Leonidas) died, 
and Nelson was appointed to succeed him in the Janus, 
of 44 guns. He returned to the harbour the day 
before St. Juan surrendered, and immediately sailed 
for Jamaica in the sloop which brought the news of his 
appointment. He was, however, so greatly reduced 
by the disorder, that when they reached Port Royal 
he was carried ashore in his cot; and finding himself. 



20 Robert Southey s 

after a partial amendment, unable to retain the com- 
mand of his new ship, he was compelled to ask leave 
to return to England, as the only means of recovery. 
Captain (afterwards Admiral) Cornwallis took him 
home in the Lion ; and to his care and kindness Nelson 
believed himself indebted for his life. He went im- 
mediately to Bath, in a miserable state; so helpless 
that he was carried to and from his bed ; and the act 
of moving him produced the most violent pain. In 
three months he was recovered, and immediately he 
hastened to London, and applied for employment. 
After an interval of about four months he was ap- 
pointed to the Albemarle, of 28 guns, a French mer- 
chantman which had been purchased from the captors 
for the king's service. 

His health was not yet thoroughly re-established ; 
and while he was employed in getting his ship ready, 
he again became so ill as hardly to be able to keep 
out of bed. Yet In this state, still suffering from the 
fatal effect of a West Indian climate, as if, it might 
almost be supposed, he said, to try his constitution, 
he was sent to the North Seas, and kept there the 
whole winter. The asperity with which he mentioned 
this so many years afterwards evinces how deeply he 
resented a mode of conduct equally cruel to the in- 
dividual and detrimental to the service. It was dur- 
inof the armed neutrality, and when they anchored off 
Elsineur, the Danish admiral sent on board, desiring 
to be informed what ships had arrived, and to have 
their force written down. " The Albemarle y^* said 
Nelson to the messenger, ** is one of His Britannic 
Majesty's ships. You are at liberty, sir, to count the 
guns as you go down the side; and you may assure 
the Danish admiral that, if necessary, they shall all 
be well served. " During this voyage he gained a con- 
siderable knowledge of the Danish coast and its sound- 
ings, greatly to the advantage of his country in after 
times. The Albemarle was not a good ship, and was 
several times nearly overset, in consequence of the 



Life of Nelson 21 

masts having been made much too long for her. On 
her return to England they were shortened, and some 
other improvements made, at Nelson's suggestion. 
Still he always insisted that her first owners, the 
French, had taught her to run away, as she was never 
a good sailer, except when going directly before the 
wind. 

On their return to the Downs, while he was ashore 
visiting the senior officer, there came on so heavy a 
gale, that almost all the vessels drove, and a storeship 
came athwarthawse of the Albemarle. Nelson feared 
she would drive on the Goodwin Sands ; he ran to the 
beach ; but even the Deal boatmen thought it impos- 
sible to get on board, such was the violence of the 
storm. At length some of the most intrepid offered 
to make the attempt for fifteen guineas ; and, to the 
astonishment and fear of all the beholders, he em- 
barked during the height of the tempest. With great 
difficulty and imminent danger he succeeded in reach- 
ing her. She lost her bowsprit and foremast, but 
escaped further injury. He was now ordered to Que- 
bec, where his surgeon told him he would certainly 
be laid up by the climate. Many of his friends urged 
him to represent this to Admiral Keppel ; but, having 
received his orders from Lord Sandwich, there ap- 
peared to him an indelicacy in applying to his suc- 
cessor to have them altered. 

Accordingly he sailed for Canada. During her first 
cruise on that station, the Albemarle captured a fishing 
schooner, which contained in her cargo nearly all the 
property that her master possessed, and the poor fellow 
had a large family at home, anxiously expecting him. 
Nelson employed him as a pilot in Boston Bay, then 
restored him the schooner and cargo, and gave him a 
certificate to secure him against being captured by 
any other vessel. The man came off afterwards to 
the Albemarle^ at the hazard of his life, with a present 
of sheep, poultry, and fresh provisions. A most valu- 
able supply it proved, for the scurvy was raging on 



22 Robert Southey s 

board ; this was in the middle of August, and the 
ship's company had not had a fresh meal since the 
beginning of April. The certificate was preserved at 
Boston in memory of an act of unusual generosity; 
and now that the fame of Nelson has given interest 
to everything connected with his name, it is regarded 
as a relic. The Albemarle had a narrow escape upon 
this cruise. Four French sail of the line and a frigate 
which had come out of Boston harbour, gave chase to 
her ; and Nelson, perceiving that they beat him in 
sailing, boldly ran among the numerous shoals of St. 
George's Bank, confiding in his own skill in pilotage. 
Captain Salter, in the St. Margarettay had escaped the 
French fleet, by a similar manoeuvre, not long before. 
The frigate alone continued warily to pursue him ; but 
as soon as he perceived that this enemy was unsup- 
ported, he shortened sail, and hove to : upon which 
the Frenchman thought it advisable to give over the 
pursuit, and sail in quest of his consorts. 

At Quebec Nelson became acquainted with Alex- 
ander Davison, by whose interference he was pre- 
vented from making what would have been called an 
imprudent marriage. The Albemarle was about to 
leave the station, her captain had taken leave of his 
friends, and was gone down the river to the place of 
anchorage; when the next morning, as Davison was 
walking on the beach, to his surprise he saw Nelson 
coming back in his boat. Upon inquiring the cause 
of this reappearance. Nelson took his arm to walk to- 
wards the town, and told him he found it utterly im- 
possible to leave Quebec without again seeing the 
woman whose society had contributed so much to his 
happiness there, and offering her his hand. ** If you 
do," said his friend, " your utter ruin must inevitably 
follow." ** Then let it follow," cried Nelson, "for I 
am resolved to do it." "And I," replied Davison, 
" am resolved you shall not." Nelson, however, upon 
this occasion was less resolute than his friend, and 
suffered himself tp be led back to the boat. 



Life of Nelson 23 

The Albemarle was under orders to convoy a fleet 
of transports to New York. *' A very pretty job," 
said her captain, " at this late season of the year " 
(October was far advanced), " for our sails are at this 
moment frozen to the yards." On his arrival at 
Sandy Hook he waited on the commander-in-chief, 
Admiral Digby, who told him he was come on a fine 
station for making prize-money. ** Yes, sir," Nelson 
made answer; ** but the West Indies is the station for 
honour." Lord Hood, with a detachment of Rodney's 
victorious fleet, was at that time at Sandy Hook : he 
had been intimate with Captain Suckling; and Nelson, 
who was desirous of nothing but honour, requested 
him to ask for the Albemarley that he might ^o to 
that station where it was most likely to be obtained. 
Admiral Digby reluctantly parted with him. His pro- 
fessional merit was already well known ; and Lord 
Hood, on introducing him to Prince William Henry, 
as the Duke of Clarence was then called, told the 
prince, if he wished to ask any questions respecting 
naval tactics. Captain Nelson could give him as much 
information as any officer in the Fleet. The Duke, 
who, to his own honour, became from that time the 
firm friend of Nelson, describes him as appearing the 
merest boy of a captain he had ever seen, dressed in 
a full-laced uniform, an old-fashioned waistcoat with 
long flaps, and his lank unpowdered hair tied in a stiff 
Hessian tail of extraordinary length; making, alto- 
gether, so remarkable a figure, ** that," says the 
Duke, ** I had never seen anything like it before, nor 
could I imagine who he was, nor what he came about. 
But his address and conversation were irresistibly 
pleasing; and when he spoke on professional subjects, 
it was with an enthusiasm that showed he was no 
common being." 

It was expected that the French would attempt some 
of the passages between the Bahamas : and Lord 
Hood, thinking of this, said to Nelson, " I suppose, 
sir, from the length of time you were cruising among 



24 Robert Southey's 

the Bahama Keys, you must be a good pilot there." 
He repUed, with that constant readiness to render 
justice to every man which was so conspicuous in all 
his conduct through life, that he was well acquainted 
with them himself, but that in that respect his second 
lieutenant was far his superior. The French got into 
Puerto Cabello on the coast of Venezuela. Nelson 
was cruising between that port and La Guayra, under 
French colours, for the purpose of obtaining infor- 
mation ; when a king's launch, belonging to the 
Spaniards, passed near, and being hailed in French, 
came alongside without suspicion, and answered all 
questions that were asked concerning the number and 
force of the enemy's ships. The crew, however, were 
not a little surprised when they were taken on board, 
and found themselves prisoners. One of the party 
went by the name of the Count de Deux Fonts. He 
was, however, a prince of the German empire, and 
brotiier to the heir of the electorate of Bavaria : his 
companions were French officers of distinction, and 
men of science, who had been collecting specimens in 
the various branches of natural history. Nelson hav- 
ing entertained them with the best his table could 
afford, told them they were at liberty to depart with 
their boat and all that it contained. He only required 
them to promise that they would consider themselves 
as prisoners, if the commander-in-chief should refuse 
to acquiesce in their being thus liberated, — a circum- 
stance which was not by any means likely to happen. 
Tidings soon arrived that the preliminaries of peace 
had been signed, and the Albemarle returned to Eng- 
land, and was paid off. Nelson's first business after 
he got to London, even before he went to see his 
relations, was to attempt to get the wages due to his 
men, for the various ships in which they had served 
during the war. ** The disgust of seamen to the 
nav}'," he said, ** was all owing to the infernal plan 
of turning them over from ship to ship ; so that men 
could not be attached to the officers, nor the officers 



Life of Nelson 25 

care the least about the men.** Yet he himself was so 
beloved by his men, that his whole ship's company 
offered, if he could get a ship, to enter for her im- 
mediately. He was now, for the first time, presented 
at court. After going through this ceremony, he 
dined with his friend Davison, at Lincoln's Inn. As 
soon as he entered the chambers, he threw off what 
he called his iron-bound coat ; and, putting himself at 
ease in a dressing-gown, passed the remainder of the 
day in talking over all that had befallen them since 
they parted on the shore of the river St. Lawrence. 



CHAPTER n 

" I HAVE closed the war," said Nelson, in one of his 
letters, " without a fortune ; but there is not a speck in 
my character. True honour, I hope, predominates in 
my mind far above riches," He did not apply for a 
ship, because he was not wealthy enough to live on 
board in the manner which was then become cus- 
tomary. Finding it, therefore, prudent to economise 
on his half-pay during the peace, he went to France, 
in company with Captain Macnamara, of the navy, 
and took lodgings at St. Omer's. The death of his 
favourite sister, Anne, who died in consequence of 
going out of the ballroom, at Bath, when heated with 
dancing, affected his father so much that it had nearly 
occasioned him to return in a few weeks. Time, how- 
ever, and reason and religion, overcame this grief in 
the old man ; and Nelson continued at St. Omer's 
long enough to fall in love with the daughter of an 
English clergyman. This second attachment appears 
to have been less ardent than the first; for, upon 
weighing the evils of a straitened income to a married 
man, he thought it better to leave France, assigning 
to his friends something in his accounts as the cause. 
This prevented him from accepting an invitation from 
the Count of Deux Fonts to visit him at Paris, couched 



26 Robert Southey's 



in the handsomest terms of acknowledgment for the 
treatment which he had received on board the Albe- 
marle. 

The self-constraint which Nelson exerted in sub- 
duing this attachment made him naturally desire to be 
at sea ; and when, upon visiting Lord Howe at the 
Admiralty, he was asked if he wished to be employed, 
he made answer that he did. Accordingly, in March, 
he was appointed to the Boreas, 28 guns, going to the 
Leeward Islands, as a cruiser, on the peace establish- 
ment. Lady Hughes and her family went out with 
him to Admiral Sir Richard Hughes, who commanded 
on that station. His ship was full of young midship- 
men, of whom there were not less than thirty on 
board : and happy were they whose lot it was to be 
placed with such a captain. If he perceived that a boy 
was afraid at first going aloft, he would say to him, 
in a friendly manner : ** Well, sir, I am going a race 
to the mast-head, and beg that I may meet you there." 
The poor little fellow instantly began to climb, and 
got up how he could, — Nelson never noticed in what 
manner ; but, when they met in the top, spoke cheer- 
fully to him; and would say, how much any person 
was to be pitied who fancied that getting up was 
either dangerous or difficult. Every day he went into 
the schoolroom, to see that they were pursuing their 
nautical studies ; and at noon he was always the first on 
deck with his quadrant. Whenever he paid a visit of 
ceremony some of these youths accompanied him : and 
when he went to dine with the governor at Barbadoes, 
he took one of them in his hand and presented him, 
saying, " Your Excellency must excuse me for bring- 
ing one of my midshipmen. I make it a rule to intro- 
duce them to all the good company I can, as they have 
few to look up to, besides myself, during the time 
they are at sea.'* 

When Nelson arrived in the West Indies he found 
himself senior captain, and, consequently, second in 
command on that station. Satisfactory as this was, it 



Life of Nelson 27 

soon involved him in a dispute with the admiral, 
which a man less zealous for the service might have 
avoided. He found the Latona in English harbour, 
Antigua, vi^ith a broad pendant hoisted; and upon 
inquiring the reason, was presented with a written 
order from Sir R. Hughes, requiring and directing 
him to obey the orders of Resident Commissioner 
Moutray, during the time he might have occasion to 
remain there; the said Resident Commissioner being 
in consequence authorised to hoist a broad pendant on 
board any of His Majesty's ships in that port that 
he might think proper. Nelson was never at a loss 
how to act in any emergency. " I know of no superior 
officers," said he, ** beside the Lords Commissioners 
of the Admiralty, and my seniors on the post list." 
Concluding, therefore, that it was not consistent with 
the service for a Resident Commissioner, who held 
only a civil situation, to hoist a broad pendant, the 
moment that he had anchored he sent an order to the 
captain of the Latona to strike it, and return it to the 
dockyard. He then went on shore the same day, dined 
with the Commissioner, to show him that he was 
actuated by no other motive than a sense of duty, and 
gave him the first intelligence that his pendant had 
been struck. Sir Richard sent an account of this to 
the Admiralty; but the case could admit of no doubt, 
and Captain Nelson's conduct was approved. 

He displayed the same promptitude on another occa- 
sion. While the Boreas j after the hurricane months 
were over, was riding at anchor in Nevis Road, a 
French frigate passed to leeward, close along shore. 
Nelson had obtained information that this ship was 
sent from Martinico, with two general officers and 
some engineers on board, to make a survey of our 
sugar islands. This purpose he was determined to 
prevent them from executing, and therefore he gave 
orders to follow them. The next day he came up with 
them at anchor in the roads of St. Eustatia, and 
anchored at about two cables' length on the frigate's 



28 Robert Southey s 

quarter. Being afterwards invited by the Dutch 
governor to meet the French officers at dinner, he 
seized that occasion of assuring the French captain 
that, understanding it was his intention to honour 
the British possessions with a visit, he had taken the 
earHest opportunity in his power to accompany him, 
in His Majesty's ship the Boreas, in order that such 
attention might be paid to the officers of his Most 
Christian Majesty, as every Englishman in the islands 
would be proud to show. The French, with equal 
courtesy, protested against giving him this trouble; 
especially, they said, as they intended merely to cruise 
round the islands, without landing on any. But 
Nelson, with the utmost politeness, insisted on paying 
them this compliment, followed them close, in spite 
of all their attempts to elude his vigilance, and never 
lost sight of them ; till finding it impossible either to 
deceive or escape him, they gave up their treacherous 
purpose in despair, and beat up for Martinico. 

A business of more serious import soon engaged 
his attention. The Americans were at this time 
trading with our islands, taking advantage of the 
register of their ships, which had been issued while 
they were British subjects. Nelson knew that, by the 
Navigation Act, no foreigners, directly or indirectly, 
are permitted to carry on any trade with these posses- 
sions : he knew also, that the Americans had made 
themselves foreigners with regard to England; they 
had broken the ties of blood and language, and ac- 
quired the independence which they had been provoked 
to claim, unhappily for themselves, before they were 
fit for it ; and he was resolved that they should derive 
no profit from those ties. Foreigners they had made 
themselves, and as foreigners they were to be treated. 
" If once," said he, **they are admitted to any kind 
of intercourse with our islands, the views of the 
loyalists, in settling at Nova Scotia, are entirely done 
away ; and when we are again embroiled in a French 
war, the Americans will first become the carriers of 



Life of Nelson 29 

these colonies, and then have possession of them. 
Here they come, sell their cargoes for ready money, 
go to Martinico, buy molasses, and so round and 
round. The loyalist cannot do this, and, consequently, 
must sell a little dearer. The residents here are 
Americans by connection and by interest, and are 
inimical to Great Britain. They are as great rebels 
as ever were in America, had they the power to show 
it." In November, when the squadron, having arrived 
at Barbadoes, was to separate, with no other orders 
than those for examining anchorages, and the usual 
inquiries concerning wood and water, Nelson asked his 
friend Collingwood, then captain of the Mediator, 
whose opinions he knew upon the subject, to accom- 
pany him to the commander-in-chief, whom he then 
respectfully asked, Whether they were not to attend 
to the commerce of the country, and see that the Navi- 
gation Act was respected? that appearing to him to 
be the intent of keeping men-of-war upon this station 
in time of peace. Sir Richard Hughes replied, he had 
no particular orders, neither had the Admiralty sent 
him any Acts of Parliament. But Nelson made answer 
that the Navigation Act was included in the statutes of 
the Admiralty, with which every captain was furnished, 
and that Act was directed to admirals, captains, etc., 
to see it carried into execution. Sir Richard said he 
had never seen the book. Upon this Nelson produced 
the statutes, read the words of the Act, and appar- 
ently convinced the commander-in-chief that men-of- 
war, as he said, " were sent abroad for some other 
purpose than to be made a show of." Accordingly, 
orders were given to enforce the Navigation Act. 

General Sir Thomas Shirley was at this time 
governor of the Leeward Islands ; and when Nelson 
waited on him to inform him how he intended to act, 
and upon what grounds, he replied that ** old generals 
were not in the habit of taking advice from young 
gentlemen." — '* Sir," said the young officer, with that 
confidence in himself which never carried him too far. 



30 Robert Southey's 

and always was equal to the occasion, ** I am as old 
as the Prime Minister of England, and think myself 
as capable of commanding one of His Majesty's ships 
as that minister is of governing the state." He was 
resolved to do his duty, whatever might be the opinion 
or conduct of others ; and when he arrived upon his 
station at St. Kitt's he sent away all the Americans, 
not choosing to seize them before they had been well 
apprised that the Act would be carried into effect, 
lest it might seem as if a trap had been laid for them. 
The Americans, though they prudently decamped from 
St. Kitt's, were emboldened by the support they met 
with, and resolved to resist his orders, alleging that 
king's ships had no legal power to seize them without 
having deputations from the customs. The planters 
were to a man against him ; the governors and the 
presidents of the different islands, with only a single 
exception, gave him no support; and the admiral, 
afraid to act on either side, yet wishing to oblige the 
planters, sent him a note, advising him to be guided 
by the wishes of the President of the Council. There 
was no danger in disregarding this, as it came un- 
officially, and in the form of advice. But scarcely a 
month after he had shown Sir Richard Hughes the 
law, and, as he supposed, satisfied him concerning it, 
he received an order from him, stating that he had 
now obtained good advice upon the point, and the 
Americans were not to be hindered from coming, and 
having free egress and regress, if the governor chose 
to permit them. An order to the same purport had 
been sent round to the different governors and presi- 
dents ; and General Shirley and others informed him, 
in an authoritative manner, that they chose to admit 
American ships, as the commander-in-chief had left 
the decision to them. These persons, in his own 
words he soon "trimmed up, and silenced "; but it 
was a more delicate business to deal with the admiral. 
*' I must either," said he, "disobey my orders or 
disobey Acts of Parliament. I determined upon the 



Life of Nelson 31 

former, trusting to the uprightness of my intentions, 
and believing that my country would not let me be 
ruined for protecting her commerce." With this 
determination he wrote to Sir Richard, appealed again 
to the plain, literal, unequivocal sense of the Navi- 
gation Act ; and in respectful language told him he 
felt it his duty to decline obeying these orders till he 
had an opportunity of seeing and conversing with him. 
Sir Richard's first feeling was that of anger, and he 
was about to supersede Nelson ; but having mentioned 
the affair to his captain, that officer told him he 
believed all the squadron thought the orders illegal, 
and therefore did not know how far they were bound 
to obey them. It was impossible, therefore, to bring 
Nelson to a court-martial composed of men who 
agreed with him in opinion upon the point in dispute ; 
and, luckily, though the admiral wanted vigour of 
mind to decide upon what was right, he was not 
obstinate in wrong, and had even generosity enough 
in his nature to thank Nelson afterwards for having 
shown him his error. 

Collingwood, in the Mediator, and his brother, 
Winefred Collingwood, in the Rattler, actively co- 
operated with Nelson. The custom-houses were 
informed, that after a certain day all foreign vessels 
found in the ports would be seized ; and many were, 
in consequence, seized, and condemned in the 
Admiralty Court. When the Boreas arrived at Nevis, 
she found four American vessels deeply laden, and 
with what are called the island colours flying — white, 
with a red cross. They were ordered to hoist their 
proper flag, and depart within eight-and-forty hours; 
but they refused to obey, denying that they were 
Americans. Some of their crews were then examined 
in Nelson's cabin, where the judge of the Admiralty 
happened to be present. The case was plain; they 
confessed that they were Americans, and that the 
ships, hull, and cargo were wholly American property 
— upon which he seized them. This raised a storm : 



32 Robert Southey's 

the planters, the custom-house, and the governor were 
all against him. Subscriptions were op'ened, and pre- 
sently filled, for the purpose of carrying on the cause 
in behalf of the American captains : and the admiral, 
whose flag was at that time in the roads, stood neutral. 
But the Americans and their abettors were not content 
with defensive law. The marines whom he had sent 
to secure the ships had prevented some of the masters 
from going ashore; and those persons, by whose 
depositions it appeared that the vessels and cargoes 
were American property, declared that they had given 
their testimony under bodily fear, for that a man with 
a drawn sword in his hand had stood over them the 
v/hole time. A rascally lawyer, whom the party 
employed, suggested this story; and as the sentry at 
the cabin-door was a man with a drawn sword, the 
Americans made no scruple of swearing to this ridicu- 
lous falsehood, and commencing prosecutions against 
him accordingly. They laid their damages at the 
enormous amount of ;;^40,ooo ; and Nelson was obliged 
to keep close on board his own ship, lest he should 
be arrested for a sum for which it would have been 
impossible to find bail. The marshal frequently came 
on board to arrest him, but was always prevented by 
the address of the first lieutenant, Mr. Wallis. Had he 
been taken, s-uch was the temper of the people, that 
it was certain he would have been cast for the whole 
sum. One of his officers, one day, in speaking of the 
restraint which he was thus compelled to suffer, hap- 
pened to use the word pity! "Pity!" exclaimed 
Nelson; ** Pity ! did you say? I shall live, sir, to be 
envied ! and to that point I shall always direct my 
course." Eight weeks he remained under this state 
of duresse. During that time the trial respecting 
these detained ships came on in the Court of 
Admiralty. He went on shore under a protection for 
the day from the judge; but, notwithstanding this, the 
marshal was called upon to take that opportunity of 
arresting him, and the merchants promised to indem- 



Life of Nelson 33 

nify him for so doing. The judge, however, did his 
duty, and threatened to send the marshal to prison 
if he attempted to violate the protection of the court. 
Mr. Herbert, the president of Nevis, behaved with 
singular generosity upon this occasion. Though no 
man was a greater sufferer by the measures which 
Nelson had pursued, he offered in court to become his 
bail for ;£io,ooo, if he chose to suffer the arrest. 
The lawyer whom he had chosen proved to be an able 
as well as an honest man ; and, notwithstanding the 
opinions and pleadings of most of the counsel of the 
different islands, who maintained that ships of war 
were not justified in seizing American vessels without 
a deputation from the customs, the law was so ex- 
plicit, the case so clear, and Nelson pleaded his own 
cause so well, that the four ships were condemned. 
During the progress of this business he sent a 
memorial home to the king : in consequence of which, 
orders were issued that he should be defended at the 
expense of the Crown. And upon the representations 
which he made at the same time to the Secretary of 
State, and the suggestions with which he accompanied 
it, the Register Act was framed. The sanction of 
Government, and the approbation of his conduct which 
it implied, were highly gratifying to him ; but he was 
offended, and not without just cause, that the 
Treasury should have transmitted thanks to the com- 
mander-in-chief for his activity and zeal in protecting 
the commerce of Great Britain. ** Had they known 
all," said he, ** I do not think they would have 
bestowed thanks in that quarter, and neglected me. 
I feel much hurt that, after the loss of health and risk 
of fortune, another should be thanked for what I did 
against his orders. I either deserved to be sent out 
of the service, or at least to have had some little 
notice taken of what I had done. They have thought 
it worthy of notice, and yet have neglected me. If 
this is the reward for a faithful discharge of my duty, 
I shall be careful, and never stand forward again. 



34 Robert Southey's 

But I have done my duty, and have nothing to accuse 
myself of." 

The anxiety which he had suffered from the harass- 
ing uncertainties of law is apparent from these 
expressions. He had, however, something to console 
him, for he was at this time wooing the niece of his 
friend the president, then in her eighteenth year, the 
widow of Dr. Nisbet, a physician. She had one child, 
a son, by name Josiah, who was three years old. One 
day Mr. Herbert, who had hastened, half-dressed, to 
receive NeJson, exclaimed, on returning to his 
dressing-room, ** Good God ! if I did not find that 
great little man, of whom everybody is so afraid, 
playing in the next room, under the dining-table, with 
Mrs. Nisbet's child ! " A few days afterwards, Mrs. 
Nisbet herself was first introduced to him, and thanked 
him for the partiality which he had shown to her 
little boy. Her manners were mild and winning ; and 
the captain, whose heart was easily susceptible of 
attachment, found no such imperious necessity for sub- 
duing his inclinations as had twice before withheld 
him from marrying. They were married on March 
II, 1787; Prince William Henry, who had come out 
to the West Indies the preceding winter, being pre- 
sent, by his own desire, to give away the bride. Mr. 
Herioert, her uncle, was at this time so much dis- 
pleased with his only daughter, that he had resolved 
to disinherit her, and leave his whole fortune, which 
was very great, to his niece. But Nelson, whose 
nature was too noble to let him profit by an act of 
injustice. Interfered, and succeeding in reconciling the 
president to his child. 

" Yesterday," said one of his naval friends, the 
day after the wedding, " the navy lost one of its 
greatest ornaments by Nelson's marriage. It is a 
national loss that such an officer should marry : had 
it not been for this, Nelson would have become the 
greatest man in the service." The man was rightly 
estimated; but he who delivered this opinion did not 



Life of Nelson 35 

understand the effect of domestic love and duty upon 
a mind of the true heroic stamp. ** We are often 
separate/* said Nelson in a letter to Mrs. Nisbet, a 
few months before their marriage; "but our affec- 
tions are not by any means on that account diminished. 
Our country has the first demand for our services ; 
and private convenience or happiness must ever give 
way to the public good. Duty is the great business 
of a sea officer : all private considerations must give 
way to it, however painful." '* Have you not often 
heard," says he, in another letter, " that salt water 
and absence always wash away love? Now I am such 
a heretic as not to believe that faith; tor, behold, 
every morning I have had six pails of salt water 
poured upon my head, and instead of finding what 
seamen say to be true, it goes on so contrary to the 
prescription, that you must, perhaps, see me before 
the fixed time." More frequently his correspondence 
breathed a deeper strain. " To write letters to you," 
says he, *' is the next greatest pleasure I feel to 
receiving them from you. What I experience when 
I read such as I am sure are the pure sentiments of 
your heart, my poor pen cannot express ; nor, indeed, 
would I give much for any pen or head which could 
express feelings of that kind. Absent from you, I feel 
no pleasure : it is you who are everything to me. 
Without you, I care not for this world; for I have 
found, lately, nothing in it but vexation and trouble. 
These are my present sentiments. God Almighty 
grant they may never change ! Nor do I think they 
will. Indeed there is, as far as human knowledge can 
judge, a moral certainty that they cannot : for it must 
be real affection that brings us together; not interest 
or compulsion." Such were the feelings, and such 
the sense of duty, with which Nelson became a 
husband. 

During his stay upon this station he had ample 
opportunity of observing the scandalous practices of 
the contractors, prize-agents, and other persons in the 



36 Robert Southey*s 

West Indies connected with the naval service. When 
he was first left with the command, and bills were 
brought him to sign for money which was owing for 
goods purchased for the navy, he required the original 
voucher, that he might examine whether those goods 
had been really purchased at the market price; but 
to produce vouchers would not have been convenient, 
and therefore was not the custom. Upon this Nelson 
wrote to Sir Charles Middleton, then Comptroller of 
the Navy, representing the abuses which were likely 
to be practised in this manner. The answer which he 
received seemed to imply that the old forms were 
thought sufficient : and thus having no alternative, he 
was compelled, with his eyes open, to submit to a 
practice originating in fradulent intentions. Soon 
afterwards two Antigua merchants informed him that 
they were privy to great frauds which had been com- 
mitted upon Government in various departments — at 
Antigua, to the amount of nearly ;£50o,ooo ; at Lucie, 
;^30o,ooo; at Barbardoes, ;^25o,ooo; at Jamaica, up- 
wards of a million. The informers were both shrewd, 
sensible men of business : they did not affect to be 
actuated by a sense of justice, but required a per- 
centage upon so much as Government should actually 
recover through their means. Nelson examined the 
books and papers which they produced, and was con- 
vinced that Government had been most infamously 
plundered. Vouchers, he found, in that country were 
no check whatever; the principle was, that **a thing 
was always worth what it would bring"; and the 
merchants were in the habit of signing vouchers for 
each other, without even the appearance of looking at 
the articles. These accounts he sent home to the 
different departments which had been defrauded ; but 
the peculators were too powerful, and they succeeded 
not merely in impeding inquiry, but even in raising 
prejudices against Nelson at the Board of Admiralty, 
which it was many years before he could subdue. 
Owing, probably, to these prejudices, and the in- 



Life of Nelson 37 

fluence of the peculators, he was treated, on his return 
to England, in a manner which had nearly driven him 
from the service. During the three years that the 
Boreas had remained upon a station which is usually 
so fatal, not a single officer or man of her whole com- 
plement had died. This almost unexampled instance 
of good health, though mostly, no doubt, imputable 
to a healthy season, must, in some measure, also be 
ascribed to the wise conduct of the captain. He never 
suffered the ships to remain more than three or four 
at a time at any of the islands ; and when the hurri- 
cane months confined him to English Harbour, he 
encouraged all kinds of useful amusements : music, 
dancing, and cudgelling among the men; theatricals 
among the officers, — anything which could employ 
their attention and keep their spirits cheerfuL The 
Boreas arrived in England in June. Nelson, who had 
many times been supposed to be consumptive when 
in the West Indies, and perhaps was saved from con- 
sumption by that climate, was still in a precarious 
state of health; and the raw wet weather of one of 
our ungenial summers brought on cold and sore throat 
and fever : yet his vessel was kept at the Nore from 
the end of June till the end of November, serving as a 
sloop and receiving ship. This unworthy treatment, 
which more probably proceeded from intention than 
from neglect, excited in Nelson the strongest indigna- 
tion. During the whole five months he seldom or 
never quitted the ship, but carried on the duty with 
strict and sullen attention. On tlie morning when 
orders were received to prepare the Boreas for being 
paid off, he expressed his joy to the senior officer in 
the Medway, saying, ** It will release me for ever from 
an ungrateful service, for it is my firm and unalterable 
determination never again to set my foot on board 
a king's ship. Immediately after my arrival in town 
I shall wait on the First Lord of the Admiralty, and 
resign my commission." The officer to whom he thus 
communicated his intentions behaved in the wisest 



38 Robert Southey's 

and most friendly manner; for, finding- it in vain to 
dissuade him in his present state of feeling, he secretly 
interfered with the First Lord to save him from a step 
so injurious to himself, little foreseeing how deeply 
the welfare and honour of England were at that 
moment at stake. This interference produced a letter 
from Lord Howe, the day before the ship was paid off, 
intimating a wish to see Captain Nelson as soon as 
he arrived in town ; when, being pleased with his con- 
versation, and perfectly convinced, by what was then 
explained to him, of the propriety of his conduct, he 
desired that he might present him to the king on the 
first levee-day : and the gracious manner in which 
Nelson was then received effectually removed his 
resentment. 

Prejudices had been, in like manner, excited against 
his friend. Prince William Henry. ** Nothing is 
wanting, sir," said Nelson in one of his letters, ** to 
make you the darling of the English nation, but truth. 
Sorry I am to say, much to the contrary has been dis- 
persed. " This was not flattery; for Nelson was no 
flatterer. The letter in which this passage occurs 
shows in how wise and noble a manner he dealt with 
the prince. One of his royal highnesses officers had 
applied for a court-martial upon a point in which he 
was unquestionably wrong. His royal highness, 
however, while he supported his own character and 
authority, prevented the trial, which must have been 
injurious to a brave and deserving man. '* Now that 
you are parted," said Nelson, ** pardon me, my prince, 
when I presume to recommend that he may stand in 
your royal favour as if he had never sailed with you, 
and that at some future day you will serve him. There 
only wants this to place your conduct in the highest 
point of view. None of us are without failings ; his 
was being rather too hasty : but that, put in compe- 
tition with his being a good officer, will not, I am bold 
to say, be taken in the scale against him. More able 
friends than myself your royal highness may easily 



Life of Nelson 39 

find, and of more consequence in the state; but one 
more attached and affectionate is not so easily met 
with. Princes seldom, very seldom, find a disin- 
terested person to communicate their thoughts to : I 
do not pretend to be that person : but of this be 
assured, by a man who, I trust, never did a dishonour- 
able act, that I am interested only that your royal 
highness should be the greatest and best man this 
country ever produced." 

Encouraged by the conduct of Lord Howe, and by 
his reception at court. Nelson renewed his attack upon 
the peculators with fresh spirit. He had interviews 
with Mr. Rose, Mr. Pitt, and Sir Charles Middleton ; 
to all of whom he satisfactorily proved his charges. 
In consequence, it is said, these very extensive public 
frauds were at length put in a proper train to be 
provided against in future : his representations were 
attended to and every step which he recommended was 
adopted : the investigation was put into a proper 
course, which ended in the detection and punishment 
of some of the culprits : an immense saving was made 
to Government, and thus its attention was directed to 
similar peculation in other parts of the Colonies. But 
it is said, also, that no mark of commendation seems 
to have been bestowed upon Nelson for his exertion. 
And it is justly remarked, that the spirit of the navy 
cannot be preserved so effectually by the liberal 
honours bestowed on officers when they are worn 
out in the service, as by an attention to those who, 
like Nelson at this part of his life, have only their 
integrity and zeal to bring them into notice. A junior 
officer, who had been left with the command at 
Jamaica, received an additional allowance, for which 
Nelson had applied in vain. Double pay was allowed 
to every artificer and seaman employed in the naval 
yard. Nelson had superintended the whole business 
of that yard with the most rigid exactness, and he 
complained that he was neglected. ** It was most 
true/' he said, "that the trouble which he took to 



40 Robert Southey*s 

detect the fraudulent practices then carried on was no 
more than his duty; but he little thought that the 
expenses attending his frequent journeys to St. John's, 
upon that duty (a distance of twelve miles), would 
have fallen upon his pay as captain of the Boreas." 
Nevertheless, the sense of what he thought this un- 
worthy usage did not diminish his zeal. ** I," said 
he, ** must still buffet the waves in search of — What? 
Alas ! that they called honour is now thought of no 
more. My fortune, God knows, has grown worse for 
the service : so much for serving my country. But 
the devil, ever willing to tempt the virtuous, has made 
me offer, if any ships should be sent to destroy his 
Majesty of Morocco's ports, to be there; and I have 
some reason to think that, should any more come of it, 
my humble services v/ill be accepted. I have invari- 
ably laid down, and followed close, a plan of what 
ought to be uppermost in the breast of an officer, — 
that it is much better to serve an ungrateful country 
than to give up his own fame. Posterity will do him 
justice. An uniform course of honour and integrity 
seldom fails of bringing a man to the goal of fame 
at last." 

The design against the Barbary pirates, like all other 
designs against them, was laid aside; and Nelson took 
his wife to his father's parsonage, meaning only to 
pay him a visit before they went to France — a project 
which he had formed for the sake of acquiring a com- 
petent knowledge of the French language. But his 
father could not bear to lose him thus unnecessarily. 
Mr. Nelson had long been an invalid, suffering under 
paralytic and asthmatic affections, which for several 
hours after he rose in the morning, scarcely permitted 
him to speak. He had been given over by his phy- 
sicians for this complaint nearly forty years before his 
death ; and was, for many of his last years, obliged to 
spend all his winters at Bath. The sight of his son, 
he declared, had given him new life. ** But, Horace," 
said he, ** it would have been better that I had not 



Life of Nelson 41 

been thus cheered, if I am so soon to be bereaved of 
you again. Let me, my good son, see you whilst I 
can. My age and infirmities increase, and I shall not 
last long. ' ' To such an appeal there could be no reply. 
Nelson took up his abode at the parsonage, and amused 
himself with the sports and the occupations of the 
country. Sometimes he busied himself with farming 
the glebe; sometimes spent the greater part of the 
day in the garden, where he would dig as if for the 
mere pleasure of wearying himself. Sometimes he 
went bird-nesting, like a boy ; and in these expeditions 
Mrs. Nelson always, by his express desire, accom- 
panied him. Coursing was his favourite amusement. 
Shooting, as he practised it, was far too dangerous for 
his companions ; for he carried his gun upon the full 
cock, as if he were going to board an enemy ; and the 
moment a bird rose, he let fly, without ever putting 
the fowling-piece to his shoulder. It is not, therefore, 
extraordinary, that his having once shot a partridge 
should be remembered by his family among the re- 
markable events of his life. 

But his time did not pass away thus without some 
vexatious cares to ruffle it. The affair of the Ameri- 
can ships was not yet over, and he was again pestered 
with threats of prosecution. " I have written them 
word," said he, *' that I will have nothing to do with 
them, and they must act as they think proper. 
Government, I suppose, will do what is right, and not 
leave me in the lurch. We have heard enough lately 
of the consequence of the Navigation Act to this 
country. They may take my person : but if sixpence 
would save me from a prosecution, I would not give 
it." It was his great ambition at this time to possess 
a pony ; and having resolved to purchase one, he went 
to a fair for that purpose. During his absence two 
men abruptly entered the parsonage and inquired for 
him : they then asked for Mrs. Nelson ; and after they 
had made her repeatedly declare that she was really 
and truly the captain's wife, presented her with a 



42 Robert Southey*s 

writ, or notification on the part of the American cap- 
tains, who now laid their damages at ;^20,ooo, and 
they charged her to give it to her husband on his 
return. Nelson having bought his pony, came home 
with it in high spirits. He called out his wife to 
admire the purchase, and listen to all its excellencies : 
nor was it till his glee had in some measure subsided 
that the paper could be presented to him. His indig- 
nation was excessive : and in the apprehension that 
he should be exposed to the anxieties of the suit, and 
the ruinous consequences which might ensue, he 
exclaimed, ** This affront I did not deserve ! But I'll 
be trifled with no longer. I will write immediately to 
the Treasury ; and if Government will not support me, 
I am resolved to leave the country.** Accordingly, he 
informed the Treasury that if a satisfactory answer 
were not sent him by return of post, he should take 
refuge in France. To this he expected he should be 
driven, and for this he arranged everything with his 
characteristic rapidity of decision. It was settled that 
he should depart immediately, and Mrs. Nelson follow 
under the care of his elder brother, Maurice, ten days 
after him. But the answer which he received from 
Government quieted his fears : it stated that Captain 
Nelson was a very good officer, and needed to be 
under no apprehension, for he would assuredly be 
supported. 

Here his disquietude upon this subject seems to have 
ended. Still he was not at ease ; he wanted employ- 
ment, and was mortified that his applications for it 
produced no effect. " Not being a man of fortune," 
he said, ** was a crime which he was unable to get 
over, and therefore none of the great cared about 
him.** Repeatedly he requested the Admiralty that 
they would not leave him to rust in indolence. During 
the armament which was made upon occasion of the 
dispute concerning Nootka Sound he renewed his 
application : and his steady friend, Prince William, 
who had then been created Duke of Clarence, recom- 



Life of Nelson 43 

mended him to Lord Chatham. The failure of this 
recommendation wounded him so keenly that he again 
thought of retiring from the service in disgust : a 
resolution from which nothing but the urgent remon- 
strances of Lord Hood induced him to desist. 

Hearing that the Raisonnahley in which he had 
commenced his career, was to be commissioned, he 
asked for her. This also was in vain : and a coolness 
ensued, on his part, toward Lord Hood, because that 
excellent officer did not use his influence with Lord 
Chatham upon this occasion. Lord Hood, however, 
had certainly sufficient reason for not interfering ; for 
he ever continued his steady friend. In the winter of 
1792, when we were on the eve of the Anti-Jacobin 
war. Nelson once more offered his services, earnestly 
requested a ship, and added, that if their lordships 
should be pleased to appoint him to a cockle-boat he 
should feel satisfied. He was answered in the usual 
official form : " Sir, I have received your letter of the 
5th instant, expressing your readiness to serve, and 
have read the same to my Lords Commissioners of the 
Admiralty.*' On the 12th of December he received 
this dry acknowledgment. The fresh mortification 
did not, however, affect him long; for, by the joint 
interest of the Duke and Lord Hood, he was 
appointed, on the 30th of January following, to the 
Agamemnonf of 64 guns. 



CHAPTER HI 

** There are three things, young gentleman,** said 
Nelson to one of his midshipmen, ** which you are 
constantly to bear in mind. First, you must always 
implicitly obey orders, without attempting to form 
any opinion of your own respecting their propriety. 
Secondly, you must consider every man your enemy 



44 Robert Southey s 

who speaks ill of your king; and thirdly, you must 
hate a Frenchman as you do the devil." With these 
feelings he engaged in the Anti-Jacobean war. Josiah, 
his step-son, went with him as a midshipman. 

The Agamemnon was ordered to the Mediterranean, 
under Lord Hood. The fleet arrived in those seas at 
a time when the South of France would willingly have 
formed itself into a separate republic, under the pro- 
tection of England. But good principles had been 
at that time perilously abused by ignorant and pro- 
fligate men ; and, in its fear and hatred of democracy, 
the English Government leagued itself with despotism, 
— a miserable error, of which the consequences will 
long be to be deplored : for had not England, in an 
unhappy hour, interfered, the rotten governments of 
the Continent would then have fallen; and the Con- 
tinental nations, acquiring a revolutionary impulse and 
strength, at the same time as France, would now 
have been the rivals of France, instead of her prey. 
Lord Hood could not take advantage of the fair occa- 
sion which presented itself; and which, if it had been 
seized with vigour, might have ended in dividing 
France; but he negotiated with the people of Toulon 
to take possession provisionally of their port and city, 
which, fatally for themselves, was accordingly done. 
Before the British fleet entered, Nelson was sent with 
despatches to Sir William Hamilton, our envoy to the 
court of Naples. Sir William, after his first inter- 
view with him, told Lady Hamilton he was about to 
introduce a little man to her, who could not boast of 
being very handsome, but such a man as, he believed, 
would one day astonish the world. " I have never 
before," he continued, " entertained an officer at my 
house; but I am determined to bring him here. Let 
him be put in the room prepared for Prince Augustus. " 
Thus that acquaintance began which ended in the 
destruction of Nelson's domestic happiness. It seemed 
to threaten no such consequences at its commence- 
ment. He spoke of Lady Hamilton, in a letter to his 



Life of Nelson 45 

wife, as a young- woman of amiable manners, who did 
honour to the station to which she had been raised : 
and he remarked, that she had been exceedingly kind 
to Josiah. The activity with which the envoy exerted 
himself in procuring- troops from Naples to assist in 
g-arrisoning Toulon, so delighted him that he is said 
to have exclaimed: "Sir William, you are a man 
after my own heart ! — you do business in my own 
way ": and then to have added, ** I am now only a 
captain : but I will, if I live, be at the top of the tree. " 
Here, also, that acquaintance with the Neapolitan 
court commenced, which led to the only blot upon Nel- 
son's public character. The king, who was sincere at 
that time in his enmity to the French, called the Eng- 
lish the saviours of Italy, and of his dominions in par- 
ticular. He paid the most flattering attentions to 
Nelson, made him dine with him, and seated him at 
his right hand. 

Having accomplished this mission, Nelson received 
orders to join Commodore Linzee at Tunis. On the 
way, five sail of the enemy were discovered off the 
coast of Sardinia, and he chased them. They proved 
to be three 44 gun frigates, with a corvette of 24, 
and a brig of 12. The Agamemnon had only 345 men 
at quarters, having landed part of her crew at Toulon, 
and others being absent in prizes. He came near 
enough one of the frigates to engage her, but at great 
disadvantage, the Frenchman manoeuvring well, and 
sailing greatly better. A running fight of three hours 
ensued; during which the other ships, which were at 
some distance, made all speed to come up. By this 
time the enemy was almost silenced, when a favour- 
able change of wind enabled her to get out of reach 
of the Agamemnon's guns ; and that ship had received 
so much damage in the rigging that she could not 
follow her. Nelson expecting that this was but the 
forerunner of a far more serious engagement, called 
his officers together, and asked them if the ship was 
fit to go into action against such a superior force, 



46 Robert Southey's 

without some small refit, and refreshment for the 
men. Their answer was, that she certainly was not. 
He then gave these orders : '* Veer the ship, and lay 
her head to the westward : let some of the best men 
be employed refitting the rigging, and the carpenter 
getting crows and capstan-bars to prevent our 
wounded spars from coming down ; and get the wine 
up for the people, with some bread, for it may be 
half an hour good before we are again in action." 
But when the French came up, their comrade made 
signals of distress, and they all hoisted out their boats 
to go to her assistance, leaving the Agamemnon 
unmolested. 

Nelson found Commodore Linzee at Tunis, where 
he had been sent to expostulate with the dey upon 
the impolicy of his supporting the revolutionary 
Government of France. Nelson represented to him 
the atrocity of that Government. Such arguments 
were of little avail in Barbary : and when the dey was 
told that the French had put their sovereign to death, 
he dryly replied, that ** Nothing could be more 
heinous ; and yet, if historians told the truth, the Eng- 
lish had once done the same.'* This answer had 
doubtless been suggested by the French about him : 
they had completely gained the ascendency, and all 
negotiation on our part proved fruitless. Shortly 
afterward Nelson was detached with a small squadron 
to co-operate with General Paoli and the Anti-Gallican 
party in Corsica. 

Some thirty years before this time, the heroic 
patriotism of the Corsicans, and of their leader Paoli, 
had been the admiration of England. The history 
of these brave people is but a melancholy tale. The 
island which they inhabit has been abundantly blessed 
by nature : it has many excellent harbours ; and though 
the m^alariay or pestilential atmosphere, which is so 
deadly in many parts of Italy, and of the Italian 
islands, prevails on the eastern coast, the greater part 
of the country is mountainous and healthy. It is about 



Life of Nelson 47 

150 miles longf, and from 40 to 50 broad; in circum- 
ference, some 320, — a country large enough, and 
sufficiently distant from the nearest shores, to have 
subsisted in an independent state, if the welfare and 
happiness of the human race had ever been considered 
as the end and aim of policy. The Moors, the Pisans, 
the kings of Aragon, and the Genoese, successively 
attempted, and each for a time effected its conquest. 
The yoke of the Genoese continued longest, and was 
the heaviest. These petty tyrants ruled with an iron 
rod ; and when at any time a patriot rose to resist their 
oppressions, if they failed to subdue him by force, 
they resorted to assassination. At the commencement 
of the last century they quelled one revolt by the aid 
of German auxiliaries, whom the Emperor Charles 
VI. sent against a people who had never offended him, 
and who were fighting for whatever is most dear to 
man. In 1734 the war was renewed ; and Theodore, 
a Westphalian baron, then appeared upon the stage. 
In that age men were not accustomed to see adven- 
turers play for kingdoms, and Theodore became the 
common talk of Europe. He had served in the French 
armies ; and having afterwards been noticed both by 
Ripperda and Alberoni, their example, perhaps, in- 
flamed a spirit as ambitious and as unprincipled as 
their own. He employed the whole of his means in 
raising money and procuring arms ; then wrote to the 
leaders of the Corsican patriots, to offer them con- 
siderable assistance, if they would erect Corsica into 
an independent kingdom, and elect him king. When 
he landed among them, they were struck with his 
stately person, his dignified manners, and imposing 
talents; they believed the magnificent promises of 
foreign assistance which he held out, and elected him 
king accordingly. Had his means been as he 
represented them, they could not have acted more 
wisely than in thus at once fixing the government of 
their country, and putting an end to those rivalries 
among the leading families, which had so often proved 



48 Robert Southey's 

pernicious to the public weal. He struck money, con- 
ferred titles, blocked up the fortified towns which were 
held by the Genoese, and amused the people with 
promises of assistance for about eight months ; then, 
perceiving that they cooled in their affections towards 
him, in proportion as their expectations were dis- 
appointed, he left the island, under the plea of ex- 
pediting himself the succours which he had so long 
awaited. Such was his address that he prevailed upon 
several rich merchants in Holland, particularly the 
Jews, to trust him with cannon and warlike stores to 
a great amount. They shipped these under the charge 
of a supercargo. Theodore returned with this super- 
cargo to Corsica, and put him to death on his arrival, 
as the shortest way of settling the account. The 
remainder of his life was a series of deserved afflic- 
tions. He threw in the stores which he had thus 
fraudulently obtained ; but he did not dare to land, for 
Genoa had now called in the French to their assist- 
ance, and a price had been set upon his head. His 
dreams of royalty were now at an end : he took refuge 
in London, contracted debts, and was thrown into the 
King's Bench. After lingering there many years, he 
was released under an act of insolvency; in conse- 
quence of which, he made over the kingdom of Corsica 
for the use of his creditors, and died shortly after his 
deliverance. 

The French, who have never acted a generous part 
in the history of the world, readily entered into the 
views of the Genoese, which accorded with their own 
policy : for such was their ascendency at Genoa, that 
in subduing Corsica for these allies, they were in fact 
subduing it for themselves. They entered into the 
contest, therefore, with their usual vigour and their 
usual cruelty. It was in vain that the Corsicans 
addressed a most affecting memorial to the court of 
Versailles ; that remorseless Government persisted in 
its flagitious project. They poured in troops ; dressed 
a part of them like the people of the country, by which 



Life of Nelson 49 

means they deceived and destroyed many of Ithe 
patriots; cut down the standing corn, the vines and 
the olives; set fire to the villages, and hung all the 
mo^t able and active men who fell into their hands. 
A war of this kind may be carried on with success 
against a country so small and so thinly peopled as 
Corsica. Having reduced the island to perfect servi- 
tude, which they called peace, the French withdrew 
their forces. As soon as they were gone, men, women 
and boys rose again against their oppressors. The 
circumstances of the times were now favourable to 
them ; and some British ships, acting as allies of Sar- 
dinia, bombarded Bastia and San Fiorenzo, and 
delivered them into the hands of the patriots. This 
service was long remembered with gratitude; the im- 
pression made upon our own countrymen was less 
favourable. They had witnessed the heart-burning 
of rival chiefs, and the dissensions among the 
patriots ; and perceiving the state of barbarism tc 
which continual oppression, and habits of lawless 
turbulence, had reduced the nation, did not recollect 
that the vices of the people were owing to their un- 
happy circumstances ; but that the virtues which they 
displayed arose from their own nature. This feeling, 
perhaps, influenced the British Court, when, in 1746; 
Corsica offered to put herself under the protection of 
Great Britain: an answer was returned, expressing 
satisfaction at such a communication, hoping that the 
Corsicans would preserve the same sentiments, but 
signifying also that the present was not the time for 
such a measure. 

These brave islanders then formed a government 
for themselves, under two leaders, Gaffori and Matra, 
who had the title of Protectors. The latter is repre- 
sented as a partisan of Genoa, favouring the views of 
the oppressors of his country by the most treasonable 
means. Gaffori was a hero worthy of old times. His 
eloquence was long remembered with admiration. A 
band of assassins was once advancing against him : 



50 Robert Southey's 

he heard of their approach, went out to meet them ; 
and with a serene dignity which overawed them, 
requested them to hear him : then spake to them so 
forcibly of the distresses of their country, her intoler- 
able wrongs, and the hopes and views of their brethren 
in arms, that the very men who had been hired to 
murder him, fell at his feet, implored his forgiveness, 
and joined his banner. While he was besieging the 
Genoese in Corte, a party of the garrison perceiving 
the nurse with his eldest son, then an infant in arms, 
straying at a little distance from the camp, suddenly 
sallied out and seized them. The use they made of 
their persons was in conformity to their usual exe- 
crable conduct. When Gaffori advanced to batter the 
walls, they held up the child directly over that part 
of the wall at which the guns were pointed. The 
Corsicans stopped : but Gaffori stood at their head 
and ordered them to continue the fire. Providentially 
the child escaped, and lived to relate, with becoming 
feeling, a fact so honourable to his father. That 
father conducted the affairs of the island till 1753, 
when he was assassinated by some wretches, set on, 
it is believed, by Genoa; but certainly pensioned by 
that abominable government after the deed. He left 
the country in such a state that it was enabled to con- 
tinue the war two years after his death without a 
leader: then they found one worthy of their cause in 
Pasquale de Paoli. 

Paoli's father was one of the patriots who effected 
their escape from Corsica when the French reduced 
it to obedience. He retired to Naples, and brought up 
this his youngest son in the Neapolitan service. The 
Corsicans heard of young Paoli 's abilities, and 
solicited him to come over to his native country and 
take the command. He did not hesitate long: his 
father, who was too far advanced in years to take an 
active part himself, encouraged him to go; and when 
they separated, the old man fell on his neck and kissed 
him, and gave him his blessing. " My son," said he. 



Life of Nelson 51 

" perhaps I may never see you more; but In my mind 
I shall ever be present with you. Your design is 
great and noble; and I doubt not but God will bless 
you in it. I shall devote to your cause the little 
remainder of my life, in offering up my prayers for 
your success." When Paoli assumed the command, 
he found all things in confusion ; he formed a demo- 
cratical government, of which he was chosen chief; 
restored the authority of the laws ; established an 
university; and took such measures, both for repress- 
ing abuses and moulding the rising generation, that, 
if France had not interfered, upon its wicked and 
detestable principle of usurpation, Corsica might, at 
this day, have been as free and flourishing and happy 
a commonwealth as any of the Grecian states in the 
days of their prosperity. The Genoese were at this 
time driven out of their fortified towns, and must in 
a short time have been expelled. France was indebted 
some millions of livres to Genoa ; it was not convenient 
to pay this money ; so the French minister proposed to 
the Genoese that she should discharge the debt by 
sending six battalions to serve in Corsica for four 
years. The indignation which this conduct excited in 
all generous hearts, was forcibly expressed by Rous- 
seau, who, with all his errors, was never deficient 
in feeling for the wrongs of humanity. ** You French- 
men," said he, writing to one of that people, " are a 
thoroughly servile nation, thoroughly sold to tyranny, 
thoroughly cruel, and relentless in persecuting 
the unhappy. If they knew of a freeman at the other 
end of the world, I believe they would go thither for 
the mere pleasure of extirpating him." 

The immediate object of the French happened to 
be purely mercenary: they wanted to clear off their 
debt to Genoa ; and as the presence of their troops in 
the island effected this, they aimed at doing the people 
no further mischief. Would that the conduct of Eng- 
land had been at this time free from reproach ! but 
a proclamation was issued by the English Government, 



52 Robert Southey's 

after the Peace of Paris, prohibiting any intercourse 
with the rebels of Corsica. Paoli said, he did not 
expect that from Great Britain. This great man was 
deservedly proud of his country: — "I defy Rome, 
Sparta, or Thebes, he used to say, ** to show me 
thirty years of such patriotism as Corsica can boast 1 *' 
Availing himself of the respite which the inactivity of 
the French, and the weakness of the Genoese, allowed, 
he prosecuted his plans of civilising the people. He 
used to say that, though he had an unspeakable pride 
in the prospect of the fame to which he aspired, yet, 
if he could but render his countrymen happy, he could 
be content to be forgotten. His own importance he 
never affected to under-value. " We are now to our 
country," said he, ** like the prophet Elisha, stretched 
over the dead child of the Shunammite — eye to eye, 
nose to nose, mouth to mouth. It begins to recover 
warmth, and to revive : I hope it will yet regain full 
health and vigour." 

But when the four years were expired, France pur- 
chased the sovereignty of Corsica from the Genoese 
for forty millions of livres ; as if the Genoese had been 
entitled to sell it; as if any bargain and sale could 
justify one country in taking possession of another 
against the will of the inhabitants, and butchering all 
who oppose the usurpation ! Among the enormities 
which France has committed, this action seems but 
as a speck ; yet the foulest murderer that ever suffered 
by the hand of the executioner has infinitely less guilt 
upon his soul than the statesman who concluded this 
treaty, and the monarch who sanctioned and confirmed 
it. A desperate and glorious resistance was made; 
but it was in vain ; no power interposed in behalf of 
these injur.ed islanders, and the French poured in as 
many troops as were required. They offered to con- 
firm Paoli in the supreme authority, only on condition 
that he would hold it under their Government. His 
answer was, that " the rocks which surrounded him 
should melt away before he would betray a cause which 



Life of Nelson 53 

he held in common with the poorest Corsican." This 
people then set a price upon his head. During two 
campaigns he kept them at bay: they overpowered 
him at length: he was driven to the shore, and, hav- 
ing escaped on shipboard, took refuge in England. It 
is said that Lord Shelburne resigned his seat in the 
Cabinet, because the Ministry looked on without 
attempting to prevent France from succeeding in this 
abominable and important act of aggrandisement. In 
one respect, however, our country acted as became 
her. Paoli was welcomed with the honours which he 
deserved, a pension of ;^i,2oo was immediately 
granted him; and provision was liberally made for 
his elder brother and his nephew. 

Above twenty years Paoli remained in England, en- 
joying the friendship of the wise and the admiration 
of the good. But when the French Revolution began, 
it seemed as if the restoration of Corsica was at hand. 
The whole country, as if animated by one spirit, rose 
and demanded liberty; and the National Assembly 
passed a decree, recognising the island as a depart- 
ment of France, and therefore entitled to all the privi- 
leges of the new French constitution. This satisfied 
the Corsicans, and it satisfied Paoli also. He re- 
signed his pension in the year 1790, and appeared at 
the bar of the Assembly with the Corsican deputies, 
when they took the oath of fidelity to France. But 
the course of events in France soon dispelled those 
hopes of a new and better order of things, which 
Paoli, in common with so many of the friends of 
humankind, had indulged : and perceiving, after the 
execution of the king, that a civil war was about to 
ensue, of which no man could foresee the issue, he 
prepared to break the connection between Corsica and 
the French Republic. The Convention, suspecting 
such a design, and perhaps occasioning it by their 
suspicions, ordered him to their bar. That way, he 
well knew, led to the guillotine; and returning a re- 
spectful answer, he declared that he would never be 



54 Robert Southey's 

found wanting- in his duty, but pleaded age and in- 
firmity as a reason for disobeying the summons. Their 
second order was more summary : and the French 
troops who were in Corsica, aided by those of the 
natives, who were either influenced by hereditary 
party feelings, or who were sincere in Jacobinism, 
took the field against him. But the people were with 
him. He repaired to Corte, the capital of the island, 
and was again invested with the authority which he 
had held in the noon-day of his fame. The Conven- 
tion upon this denounced him as a rebel, and set a 
price upon his head. It was not the first time that 
France had proscribed Paoli. 

Paoli now opened a correspondence with Lord 
Hood, promising, if the English would make an attack 
upon St. Fiorenzo from the sea, he would, at the same 
time, attack it by land. This promise he was unable 
to perform : and Commodore Linzee, who, in reliance 
upon it, was sent upon this service, was repulsed with 
some loss. Lord Hood, who had now been compelled 
to evacuate Toulon, suspected Paoli of intentionally 
deceiving him. This was an injurious suspicion. 
Shortly afterward he despatched Lieutenant-Colonel 
(afterwards Sir John) Moore and Major Koehler to 
confer with him upon a plan of operations. Sir Gil- 
bert Elliot accompanied them : and it was agreed upon 
that, in consideration of the succours, both military 
and naval, which His Britannic Majesty should afford 
for the purpose of expelling the French, the island of 
Corsica should be delivered into the immediate posses- 
sion of His Majesty, and bind itself to acquiesce in 
any settlement he might approve of concerning its 
government and its future relation with Great Britain. 
While this negotiation was going on. Nelson cruised 
off the island with a small squadron, to prevent the 
enemy from throwing in supplies. Close to St. Fior- 
enzo the French had a storehouse of flour, near their 
only mill : he watched an opportunity, and landed t20 
men, who threw the flour into the sea, burnt the 



Life of Nelson 55 

mill, and re-embarked before i,ooo men, who were 
sent against him, could occasion them the loss of a 
single man. While he exerted himself thus, keeping 
out all supplies, intercepting despatches, attacking 
their outposts and forts, and cutting out vessels from 
the bay, — a species of warfare which depresses the 
spirit of an enemy even more than it injures them, 
because of the sense of individual superiority which it 
indicates in the assailants, — troops were landed, and 
St. Fiorenzo was besieged. The French, finding 
themselves unable to maintain that post, sank one of 
their frigates, burnt another, and retreated to Bastia. 
Lord Hood submitted to General Dundas, who com- 
manded the land forces, a plan for the reduction of 
this place : the general declined co-operating, thinking 
the attempt impracticable without a reinforcement of 
2,000 men, which he expected from Gibraltar. Upon 
this Lord Hood determined to reduce it with the naval 
force under his command ; and leaving part of his fleet 
off Toulon, he came with the rest to Bastia. 

He showed a proper sense of respect for Nelson's 
services, and of confidence in his talents, by taking 
care not to bring with him any older captain. A few 
days before their arrival. Nelson had had what he 
called a brush with the enemy. ** If I had had with 
me five hundred troops," he said, " to a certainty I 
should have stormed the town ; and I believe it might 
have been carried. Armies go so slow that seamen 
think they never mean to get forward : but I daresay 
they act on a surer principle, although we seldom 
fail.** During this partial action our army appeared 
upon the heights ; and having reconnoitred the place, 
returned to St. Fiorenzo. ' ' What the general could 
have seen to make a retreat necessary," said Nelson, 
*' I cannot comprehend. A thousand men would cer- 
tainly take Bastia ; with five hundred and A g^ameninon 
I would attempt it. My seamen are now what British 
seamen ought to be, almost invincible. They really 
mind shot no more than peas." General Dundas had 



56 Robert Southey s 

not the same confidence. ** After mature considera- 
tion," said he in a letter to Lord Hood, '* and a per- 
sonal inspection for several days of all circumstances, 
local as well as others, I consider the siege of Bastia, 
with our present means and force, to be a most 
visionary and rash attempt; such as no officer would 
be justified in undertaking. " Lord Hood replied, that 
nothing would be more gratifying to his feelings than 
to have the whole responsibility upon himself; and 
that he was ready and willing to undertake the re- 
duction of the place at his own risk, with the force 
and means at present there. General D'Aubant, who 
succeeded at this time to the command of the army, 
coincided in opinion with his predecessor, and did not 
think it right to furnish his lordship with a single 
soldier, cannon, or any stores. Lord Hood could only 
obtain a few artillerymen ; and orderinjET on board that 
part of the troops who, having been embarked as 
marines, were borne on the ships' books as part of 
their respective complements, he began the siege with 
1,183 soldiers, artillerymen, and marines, and 250 
sailors. ** We are but few,*' said Nelson, ** but of 
the right sort ; our general at St. Fiorenzo not giving 
us one of the five regiments he has there lying idle. ' ' 

These men were landed on the 4th of April, under 
Lieutenant-Colonel Villettes and Nelson, who had now 
acquired from the army the title of brigadier. Guns 
were dragged by the sailors up heights where it ap- 
peared almost impossible to convey them — a work of 
the greatest difficulty; and which Nelson said could 
never, in his opinion, have been accomplished by any 
but British seamen. The soldiers, though less dex- 
terous in such service, because not accustomed, like 
sailors, to habitual dexterity, behaved v/ith equal 
spirit. ** Their zeal," said the brigadier, " is almost 
unexampled. There is not a man but considers him- 
self as personally interested in the event; and, de- 
serted by the general, it has, I am persuaded, made 
them equal to double their numbers." This is one 



Life of Nelson 57 

proof, of many, that for our soldiers to equal our sea- 
men, it is only necessary for them to be equally well 
commanded. They have the same heart and soul, as 
well as the same flesh and blood. Too much may, 
indeed, be exacted from them in a retreat; but set 
their face toward a foe, and there is nothing within 
the reach of human achievement which they cannot 
perform. The French have improved the leisure which 
our military commander had allowed them ; and 
before Lord Hood commenced his operations, he had 
the mortification of seeing- that the enemy were every 
day erecting new works, strengthening old ones, and 
rendering the attempt more difficult. La Combe St. 
Michel, the Commissioner from the National Con- 
vention, who was in the city, replied in these terms to 
the summons of the British admiral; ** I have hot shot 
for your ships, and bayonets for your troops. When 
two-thirds of our men are killed, I will then trust to 
the generosity of the English." The siege, however, 
was not sustained with the firmness which such a reply 
seemed to augur. On the 19th of May a treaty of 
capitulation was begun : that same evening the troops 
from St. Fiorenzo made their appearance on the hills, 
and on the following morning General D'Aubant 
arrived with the whole army to take possession of 
Bastia. 

The event of the siege had justified the confidence of 
the sailors ; but they themselves excused the opinion 
of the generals, when they saw what they had done. 
** I am all astonishment," said Nelson, '* when I 
reflect on what we have achieved : 1,000 regulars, 
If 500 national guards, and a large party of Corsican 
troops, 4,000 in all, laying down their arms to 1,200 
soldiers, marines, and seamen ! I always was of 
opinion, have ever acted up to it, and never had any 
reason to repent it, that one Englishman was equal to 
three Frenchmen. Had this been an English town, 
I am sure it would not have been taken by them.*' 
When it had been resolved to attack the place, the 



58 Robert Southey s 

enemy were supposed to be far inferior in number; 
and it was not till the whole had been arranged, and 
the siege publicly undertaken, that Nelson received 
certain information of the great superiority of the gar- 
rison. This intelligence he kept secret, fearing lest, 
if so fair a pretext were afforded, the attempt would 
be abandoned. *' My own honour," said he to his 
wife, " Lord Hood's honour, and the honour of our 
country, must have been sacrificed, had I mentioned 
what I knew; therefore you will believe what must 
have been my feelings during the whole siege, when 
I had often proposals made to me to write to Lord 
Hood to raise it.*' Those very persons who thus 
advised him were rewarded for their conduct at the 
siege of Bastia : Nelson, by whom it may truly be 
affirmed that Bastia was taken, received no reward, 
Lord Hood's thanks to him, both public and private, 
were, as he himself said, the handsomest which man 
could give : but his signal merits were not so men- 
tioned in the despatches as to make them sufficiently 
known to the nation, nor to obtain for him from 
Government those honours to which they so amply 
entitled him. This could only have arisen from the 
haste in which the despatches were written ; certainly 
not from any deliberate purpose, for Lord Hood was 
uniformly his steady and sincere friend. 

One of the Cartel's ships, which carried the garrison 
of Bastia to Toulon, brought back intelligence that the 
French were about to sail from that port; — such 
exertions had they made to repair the damage done 
at the evacuation, and to fit out a fleet. The intelli- 
gence was speedily verified. Lord Hood sailed in 
quest of them towards the islands of Hieres. The 
Agamemnon was with him. ** I pray God," said 
Nelson, writing to his wife, " that we may meet their 
fleet. If any accident should happen to me, I am sure 
my conduct will be such as will entitle you to the royal 
favour, — not that I have the least idea but I shall 
return to you, and full of honour: — if not, the Lord's 



Life of Nelson 59 

will be done. My name shall never be a disgrace to 
those who may belong to me. The little I have, I 
have given to you, except a small annuity; I wish it 
was more, but I have never got a farthing dishonestly, 
— it descends from clean hands. Whatever fate 
awaits me, I pray God to bless you, and preserve you 
for your son's sake." With a mind thus prepared, 
and thus confident, his hopes and wishes seemed on 
the point of being gratified, when the enemy were dis- 
covered close under the land, near St. Tropez. The 
wind fell, and prevented Lord Hood from getting be- 
tween them and the shore, as he designed ; boats came 
out from Antibes and other places to their assistance, 
and towed them within the shoals in Gourjean roads, 
where they were protected by the batteries on isles 
St. Honore and St. Marguerite, and on Cape Ga- 
rousse. Here the English admiral planned a new 
mode of attack, meaning to double on five of the 
nearest ships ; but the wind again died away, and it 
was found that they had anchored in compact order, 
guarding the only passage for large ships. There 
was no way of effecting this passage, except by tow- 
ing or warping the vessels ; and this rendered the at- 
tempt impracticable. For this time the enemy 
escaped ; but Nelson bore in mind the admirable plan 
of attack which Lord Hood had devised, and there 
came a day when they felt its tremendous effects. 

The Agamemnon was now despatched to co-operate 
at the siege of Calvi with General Sir Charles Stuart ; 
an officer who, unfortunately for his country, never 
had an adequate field allotted him for the display of 
those eminent talents which were, to all who knew 
him, so conspicuous. Nelson had less responsibility 
here than at Bastia ; and was acting with a man after 
his own heart, who was never sparing of himself, and 
slept every night in the advanced battery. But the 
service was not less hard than that of the former siege. 
**We will fag ourselves to death," said he to Lord 
Hood, ** before any blame shall lie at our doors. I 



6o Robert Southey s 

trust it will not be forgotten that twenty-five pieces of 
heavy ordnance have been dragged to the different 
batteries, mounted, and all but three, fought by sea- 
men, except one artilleryman to point the guns." 
The climate proved more destructive than the service ; 
for this was during the lion sun, as they there call our 
season of the dog-days. Of 2,000 men above half were 
sick, and the rest like so many phantoms. Nelson 
described himself as the reed among the oaks, bowing 
before the storm when they were laid low by it. * * All 
the prevailing disorders have attacked me," said he, 
"but I have not strength enough for them to fasten 
on." The loss from the enemy was not great; but 
Nelson received a serious injury; a shot struck the 
ground near him, and drove the sand and small gravel 
into one of his eyes. He spoke of it slightly at the 
time: writing the same day to Lord Hood, he only 
said that he got a little hurt that morning, not much ; 
and the next day, he said he should be able to attend 
his duty in the evening. In fact, he suffered it to 
confine him only one day ; but the sight was lost. 

After the fall of Calvi, his services were, by a 
strange omission, altogether overlooked ; and his 
name was not even mentioned In the list of wounded. 
This was no ways imputable to the admiral, for he 
sent home to Government Nelson's journal of the 
siege, that they might fully understand the nature of 
his indefatigable and unequalled exertions. If those 
exertions were not rewarded In the conspicuous 
manner which they deserved, the fault was in the 
administration of the day, not in Lord Hood. Nelson 
felt himself neglected. " One hundred and ten days," 
said he, ** I have been actually engaged, at sea and on 
shore, against the enemy ; three actions against ships, 
two against Bastia In my ship, four boat actions, and 
two villages taken, and twelve sail of vessels burnt. I 
do not know that any one has done more. I have had 
the comfort to be always applauded by my com- 
mander-in-chief, but never to be rewarded ; and, what 



Life of Nelson 6i 

is more mortifying, for services in which I have been 
wounded, others have been praised, who, at the same 
time, were actually in bed, far from the scene of 
action. They have not done me justice. But, never 
mind, I'll have a gazette of my own.** How amply 
was this second-sight of glory realised ! 

The health of his ship's company had now, in his 
own words, been miserably torn to pieces by as hard 
service as a ship's crew ever performed : 150 were in 
their beds when he left Calvi ; of them he lost 50, and 
believed that the constitutions of the rest were entirely 
destroyed. He was now sent with despatches to Mr. 
Drake, at Genoa, and had his first interview with the 
Doge. The French had, at this time, taken posses- 
sion of Vado Bay, in the Genoese territory; and 
Nelson foresaw that, if their thoughts were bent on 
the invasion of Italy, they would accomplish it the 
ensuing spring. "The allied powers," he said, 
**were jealous of each other; and none but England 
was hearty in the cause." His wish was for peace, 
on fair terms, because England, he thought, was 
draining herself, to maintain allies who would not fight 
for themselves. Lord Hood had now returned to 
England; and the command devolved on Admiral 
Hotham. The affairs of the Mediterranean wore at 
this time a gloomy aspect. The arts, as well as the 
arms of the enemy, were gaining the ascendency there. 
Tuscany concluded peace, relying upon the faith of 
France, which was, in fact, placing itself at her mercy. 
Corsica was in danger. We had taken that island 
for ourselves, annexed it formally to the Crown of 
Great Britain, and given it a constitution as free as 
our own. This was done with the consent of the 
majority of the inhabitants : and no transaction 
between two countries was ever more fairly or legiti- 
mately conducted : yet our conduct was unwise ; — the 
island is large enough to form an independent state, 
and such we should have made it, under our protec- 
tioQ, as long as protection might be needed; the 



62 Robert Southey's 

Corsicans would then have felt as a nation ; but when 
one party had given up the country to England, the 
natural consequence was that the other looked to 
France. The question proposed to the people was, to 
which would they belong? Our language and our 
religion were against us ; our unaccommodating 
manners, it is to be feared, still more so. The French 
were better politicians. In intrigue they have ever 
been unrivalled ; and it now became apparent, that, in 
spite of old wrongs, which ought never to have been 
forgotten or forgiven, their partisans were daily 
acquiring strength. It is part of the policy of France, 
and a wise policy it is, to impress upon other powers 
the opinion of its strength by lofty language, and by 
threatening before it strikes ; a system which, while it 
keeps up the spirit of its allies, and perpetually 
stimulates their hopes, tends also to dismay its 
enemies. Corsica was now loudly threatened. The 
French, who had not yet been taught to feel their 
own inferiority upon the seas, braved us, in contempt, 
upon that element. They had a superior fleet in the 
Mediterranean, and they sent it out with express 
orders to seek the English and engage them. 
Accordingly, the Toulon fleet, consisting of seventeen 
ships of the line and five smaller vessels, put to sea. 
Admiral Hotham received this information at Leg- 
horn, and sailed immediately in search of them. He 
had with him fourteen sail of the line, and one 
Neapolitan 74; but his ships were only half manned, 
containing but 7,650 men, whereas the enemy had 
16,900. He soon came in sight of them; a general 
action was expected ; and Nelson, as was his custom 
on such occasions, wrote a hasty letter to his wife, as 
that which might possibly contain his last farewell. 
**The lives of all," said he, "are in the hand of 
Him who knows best whether to preserve mine or 
not : my character and good name ?re in my own 
keeping." 

But however confident the French Government 



Life of Nelson 63 

might be of their naval superiority, the officers had no 
such feeling ; and after manoeuvring for a day, in sight 
of the English fleet, they suffered themselves to be 
chased. One of their ships, the Qa Ira^ of 84 guns, 
carried away her main and fore top-masts. The 
Inconstant frigate fired at the disabled ship, but 
received so many shot, that she was obliged to leave 
her. Soon afterwards a French frigate took the fa 
Ira in tow; and the Sans Culottes, 120, and the Jean 
B arris, 74, kept about gun-shot distance off her 
weather bow. The Agamemnon stood towards her, 
having no ship of the line to support her within several 
miles. As she drew near, the fa Ira fired her stern 
guns so truly that not a shot missed some part of the 
ship, and, latterly, the masts were struck by every 
shot. It had been Nelson's intention not to fire before 
he touched her stern; but seeing how impossible it 
was that he should be supported, and how certainly 
the Agamemnon must be severely cut up if her masts 
were disabled, he altered his plan according to the 
occasion. As soon, therefore, as he was within a 
hundred yards of her stern, he ordered the helm to be 
put a-starboard, and the driver and after-sails to be 
brailed up and shivered, and, as the ship fell off, gave 
the enemy her whole broadside. They instantly 
braced up the after-yards, put the helm a-port, and 
stood after her again. This manoeuvre he practised 
for two hours and a quarter, never allowing the Qa 
Ira to get a single gun from either side to bear on 
him ; and when the French fired their after-guns now, 
it was no longer with coolness and precision, for every 
shot went far ahead. By this time her sails were 
hanging in tatters, her mizen-topmast, mizen-topsail, 
and cross- jack-yards shot away. But the frigate 
which had her in tow hove in stays, and got her 
round. Both these French ships now brought their 
guns to bear, and opened their fire. The Agamemnon 
passed them within half pistol-shot ; almost every shot 
passed over her, for the French had elevated their guns 



64 Robert Southey's 

for the rigging, and for distant firing, and did not 
think of altering the elevation. As soon as the 
Agamemnon^s after-guns ceased to bear, she hove in 
stays, keeping a constant fire as she came round ; and 
being worked, said Nelson, with as much exactness 
as if she had been turning into Spithead. On getting 
round, he saw that the Sans Culottes, which had wore, 
with many of the enemy's ships, was under his lee 
bow, and standing to leeward. The admiral, at the 
same time, made the signal for the van ships to join 
him. Upon this Nelson bore away, and prepared to 
set all sail; and the enemy, having saved their ship, 
hauled close to the wind, and opened upon him a 
distant and ineffectual fire. Only seven of the 
Agamemnon's men were hurt, — a thing which Nelson 
himself remarked as wonderful : her sails and rigging 
were very much cut, and she had many shots in her 
hull, and some between wind and water. The fa Ira 
lost no men that day, and was so cut up that she 
could not get a top-mast aloft during the night. 

At daylight, on the following morning, the English 
ships were taken aback with a fine breeze at N.W., 
while the enemy's fleet kept the southerly wind. The 
body of their fleet was about five miles distant; the 
fa Ira^ and the CenseuY, 74, which had her in tow, 
about three and a half. All sail was made to cut 
these ships off : and as the French attempted to save 
them, a partial action was brought on. The Aga- 
memnon was again engaged with her yesterday's 
antagonist ; but she had to fight on both sides the ship 
at the same time. The Qa Ira and the Censeur fought 
most gallantly : the first lost nearly 300 men, in addi- 
tion to her former loss; the last, 350. Both at last 
struck : and Lieutenant Andrews, of the Agamemnon^ 
brother to the lady to whom Nelson had become 
attached in France, and, in Nelson's own words, *' as 
gallant an officer as ever stepped a quarter-deck," 
hoisted English colours on board them both. The 
rest of the enemy's ships behaved very ill. As soon 



Life of Nelson 65 

as these vessels had struck, Nelson went to Admiral 
Hotham and proposed that the two prizes should be 
left with the Illustrious and CourageuXj which had 
been crippled in the action, and with four frigates, and 
that the rest of the fleet should pursue the enemy, and 
follow up the advantage to the utmost. But his reply 
was — *' We must be contented : we have done very 
well.** "Now," said Nelson, "had we taken ten 
sail, and allowed the eleventh to escape, when it had 
been possible to have got at her, I could never have 
called it well done. Goodall backed me : I got him to 
write to the admiral ; but it would not do. We should 
have had such a day as, I believe, the annals of Eng- 
land never produced." In this letter the character of 
Nelson fully manifests itself. " I wish," said he, ** to 
be an admiral, and in the command of the English 
fleet ; I should very soon either do much, or be ruined : 
my disposition cannot bear tame and slow measures. 
Sure I am, had I commanded on the 14th, that either 
the whole French fleet would have graced my triumph, 
or I should have been in a confounded scrape." 
What the event would have been, he knew from his 
prophetic feelings, and his own consciousness of 
power ; and we also know it now, for Aboukir and 
Trafalgar have told it us. 

The fa Ira and Censeur probably defended them- 
selves with more obstinacy in this action, from a 
persuasion that, if they struck, no quarter would be 
given; because they had fired red-hot shot, and had 
also a preparation, sent, as they said, by the Con- 
vention from Paris, which seems to have been of the 
nature of the Greek fire ; for it became liquid when it 
was discharged, and water would not extinguish its 
flame. This combustible was concealed with great 
care in the captured ships ; like the red-hot shot, it 
had been found useless in battle. Admiral Hotham 's 
action saved Corsica for the time ; but the victory had 
been incomplete, and the arrival at Toulon of six sail 
of the line, Jwo frigates, and two cutters from Brest, 



66 Robert Southey*s 

gave the French a superiority which, had they known 
how to use it, would materially have endangered the 
British Mediterranean fleet. That fleet had been 
greatly neglected during Lord Chatham's administra- 
tion at the Admiralty; and it did not, for some time, 
feel the beneficial effect of his removal. Lord Hood 
had gone home to represent the real state of affairs, 
and solicit reinforcements adequate to the exigencies 
of the time, and the importance of the scene of action. 
But that fatal error of under-proportioning the force 
to the service, that ruinous economy, which, by 
sparing a little, renders all that is spent useless, 
infected the British councils; and Lord Hood, not 
being able to obtain such reinforcements as he knew 
were necessary, resigned the command. ** Surely," 
said Nelson, ** the people at home have forgotten us." 
Another Neapolitan 74 joined Admiral Hotham ; and 
Nelson observed with sorrow that this was matter of 
exultation to an English fleet. When the store-ships 
and victuallers from Gibraltar arrived, their escape 
from the enemy was thought wonderful ; and yet, had 
they not escaped, "the game," said Nelson, **was 
up here. At this moment our operations are at a 
stand for want of ships to support the Austrians in 
getting possession of the sea-coast of the King of 
Sardinia ; and, behold, our admiral does not feel him- 
self equal to show himself, much less to give assist- 
ance in their operations." It was reported that the 
French were again out with eighteen or twenty sail. 
The combined British and Neapolitan were but six- 
teen ; should the enemy be only eighteen, Nelson made 
no doubt of a complete victory; but if they were 
twenty, he said, it was not to be expected : and a battle 
without complete victory would have been destruction, 
because another mast was not to be got on that side 
Gibraltar. At length Admiral Man arrived with a 
squadron from England. " What they can mean by 
sending him with only five sail of the line," said 
Nelson, **is truly astonishing: but all men are alike, 



Life of Nelson 67 

and we in this country do not find any amendment or 
alteration from the old Board of Admiralty. They 
should know that half the ships in the fleet require to 
go to England ; and that long ago they ought to have 
reinforced us." 

About this time Nelson was made colonel of 
marines, — a mark of approbation which he had long 
wished for rather than expected. It came in good 
season, for his spirits were oppressed by the thought 
that his services had not been acknowledged as they 
deserved ; and it abated the resentful feeling which 
would else have been excited by the answer to an 
application to the War Office. During his four 
months* land service in Corsica, he had lost all his 
ship-furniture, owing to the movements of a camp. 
Upon this he wrote to the Secretary at War, briefly 
stating what his services on shore had been, and 
saying, he trusted it was not asking an improper 
thing to request that the same allowance might be 
made to him which would be made to a land officer of 
his rank, which, situated as he was, would be that of 
a brigadier-general : if this could not be accorded, he 
hoped that his additional expenses would be paid him. 
The answer which he received was, that ** no pay had 
ever been issued under the direction of the War Office 
to officers of the navy serving with the army on 
shore.'* 

He now entered upon a new line of service. The 
Austrian and Sardinian armies, under General de 
Vins, required a British squadron to co-operate with 
them in driving the French from the Riviera di Genoa ; 
and as Nelson had been so much in the habit of 
soldiering, it was immediately fixed that the bri- 
gadier should go. He sailed from St. Fiorenzo on 
this destination; but fell in, off Cape del Mele, with 
the enemy's fleet, who immediately gave his squadron 
chase. The chase lasted four-and-twenty hours; and, 
owing to the fickleness of the wind, the British ships 
were sometimes hard pressed ; but the want of skill on 



68 Robert Southey's 

the part of the French gave them many advantages. 
Nelson bent his way back to St. Fiorenzo, where the 
fleet, which was in the midst of watering and refitting, 
had, for seven hours, the mortification of seeing him 
almost in possession of the enemy, before the wind 
would allow them to put out to his assistance. The 
French, however, at evening, went off, not choosing 
to approach nearer the shore. During the night 
Admiral Hotham, by great exertions, got under 
weigh; and, having sought the enemy four days, 
came in sight of them on the 5th. Baffling winds, and 
vexatious calms, so common in the Mediterranean, 
rendered it impossible to close with them; only a 
partial action could be brought on : and then the 
firing made a perfect calm. The French being to 
windward, drew in shore; and the English fleet was 
becalmed six or seven miles to the westward. 
UAlcide, of 74 guns, struck; but, before she could be 
taken possession of, a box of combustibles in her fore- 
top took fire, and the unhappy crew experienced how 
far more perilous their inventions were to themselves 
than to their enemies. So rapid was the conflagration, 
that the French, in their official account, say, the hull, 
the masts, and sails, all seemed to take fire at the 
same moment ; and though the English boats were put 
out to the assistance of the poor wretches on board, 
not more than 200 could be saved. The Agamemnon, 
and Captain Rowley, in the Cumberland, were just 
getting into close action a second time, when the 
admiral called them off, the wind now being directly 
into the Gulf of Frejus, where the enemy anchored 
after the evening closed. 

Nelson now proceeded to his station with eight sail 
of frigates under his command. Arriving at Genoa, 
he had a conference with Mr. Drake, the British envoy 
to that state ; the result of which was, that the object 
of the British must be to put an entire stop to all 
trade between Genoa, France, and the places occupied 
by the French troops; for, unless this trade were 



Life of Nelson 69 

stopped, it would be scarcely possible for the allied 
armies to hold their situation, and impossible for 
them to make any progress in driving the enemy out 
of the Riviera di Genoa. Mr. Drake was of opinion 
that even Nice might fall for want of supplies, if 
the trade with Genoa were cut off. This sort of 
blockade Nelson could not carry on without great 
risk to himself. A captain in the navy, as he re- 
presented to the envoy, is liable to prosecution for 
detention and damages. This danger was increased 
by an order which had then lately been issued ; by 
which, when a neutral ship was detained, a complete 
specification of her cargo was directed to be sent 
to the Secretary of the Admiralty, and no legal 
process instituted against her till the pleasure of 
that board should be communicated. This was re- 
quiring an impossibility. The cargoes of ships de- 
tained upon this station, consisting chiefly of corn, 
would be spoiled long before the orders of the Ad- 
miralty could be known ; and then, if they should 
happen to release the vessel, the owners would look 
to the captain for damages. Even the only pre- 
caution which could be taken against this danger, 
involved another danger not less to be apprehended; 
for if the captain should direct the cargo to be 
taken out, the freight paid for, and the vessel re- 
leased, the agent employed might prove fraudulent 
and become bankrupt; and in that case the captain 
became responsible. Such things had happened : 
Nelson therefore required, as the only means for 
carrying on that service which was judged essential 
to the common cause, without exposing the officers to 
rum, that the British envoy should appoint agents to 
pay the freight, release the vessels, sell the cargo, and 
hold the amount till process was had upon it : Govern- 
ment thus securing its officers. ** I am acting,*' said 
Nelson, " not only without the orders of my com- 
mander-in-chief, but, in some measure, contrary to 
him. However, I have not only the support of His 



yo Robert Southey's 

Majesty's ministers, both at Turin and Genoa, but a 
consciousness that I am doing what is right and 
proper for the service of our king and country. 
Political courage, in an officer abroad, is as highly 
necessary as military courage." 

This quality, which is as much rarer than military 
courage, as it is more valuable, and without which 
the soldier's bravery is often of little avail. Nelson 
possessed in an eminent degree. His representations 
were attended to as they deserved. Admiral Hotham 
commended him for what he had done ; and the atten- 
tion of Government was awakened to the injury 
which the cause of the allies continually suffered 
from the frauds of neutral vessels. ** What changes 
in my life of activity ! " said this indefatigable man, 
' * Here I am ; having commenced a co-operation with 
an old Austrian general, almost fancying myself 
charging at the head of a troop of horse ! — I do not 
write less than from ten to twenty letters every day; 
which, with the Austrian general and aides-de-camp, 
and my own little squadron, fully employ my time. 
This I like — active service, or none." It was Nel- 
son's mind which supported his feeble body through 
these exertions. He was at this time almost blind, 
and wrote with very great pain. " Poor Agamem- 
non j" he sometimes said, "was as nearly worn out 
as her captain; and both must soon be laid up to 
repair." 

When Nelson first saw General de Vins, he thought 
him an able man, who was willing to act with vigour. 
The general charged his inactivity upon the Pied- 
montese and Neapolitans, whom, he said, nothing 
could induce to act; and he concerted a plan with 
Nelson for embarking a part of the Austrian army, 
and landing it in the rear of the French. But the 
English commodore soon began to suspect that the 
Austrian general was little disposed to any active 
operations. In the hope of spurring him on, he 
wrote to him, telling him that he had surveyed the 



Life of Nelson 71 

coast to the westward as far as Nice, and would 
undertake to embark 4,000 or 5,000 men, with their 
arms and a few days' provisions, on board the 
squadron, and land them within two miles of St. 
Remo, with their field-pieces. Respecting further 
provisions for the Austrian army, he would provide 
convoys, that they should arrive in safety; and if a 
re-embarkation should be found necessary, he would 
cover it with a squadron. The possession of St. 
Remo, as headquarters for magazines of every kind, 
would enable the Austrian general to turn his army 
to the eastward or westward. The enemy at Oneglia 
would be cut off from provisions, and men could be 
landed to attack that place whenever it was judged 
necessary. St. Remo was the only place between 
Vado and Ville Franche where the squadron could 
lie in safety, and anchor in almost all winds. The 
bay was not as good as Vado for large ships ; but 
it had a mole, which Vado had not, where all small 
vessels could lie, and load and unload their cargoes. 
This bay being in possession of the allies, Nice could 
be completely blockaded by sea. General De Vins 
affecting, in his reply, to consider that Nelson's pro- 
posal had no other end than that of obtaining the 
Bay of St. Remo as a station for the ships, told 
him, what he well knew, and had expressed before, 
that Vado Bay was a better anchorage; nevertheless, 
if Monsieur le Commandant Nelson was well assured 
that part of the fleet could winter there, there was no 
risk to which he would not expose himself with 
pleasure, for the sake of procuring a safe station for 
the vessels of His Britannic Majesty. Nelson soon 
assured the Austrian commander that this was not 
the object of his memorial. He now began to suspect 
that both the Austrian courts and their general had 
other ends in view than the cause of the allies. 
"This army," said he, " is slow beyond all descrip- 
tion; and I begin to think that the Emperor is 
anxious to touch another four millions of English 



72 Robert Southey^s 

money. As for the German generals, war is their 
trade, and peace is ruin to them ; therefore we cannot 
expect that they should have any wish to finish the 
war. The politics of courts are so mean, that private 
people would be ashamed to act in the same way : 
all is trick and finesse, to which the common cause 
is sacrificed. The general wants a loophole : it has 
for some time appeared to me that he means to go 
no farther than his present position, and to lay the 
miscarriage of the enterprise against Nice, which 
has always been held out as the great object of his 
army, to the non-co-operation of the British fleet, 
and of the Sardinians." 

To prevent this plea Nelson again addressed De 
Vins, requesting only to know the time, and the 
number of troops ready to embark; then he would, 
he said, despatch a ship to Admiral Hotham, request- 
ing transports, having no doubt of obtaining them, 
and trusting that the plan would be successful to its 
fullest extent. Nelson thought at the time, that if 
the whole fleet were ofl^ered him for transports, he 
would find some other excuse : and Mr. Drake, who 
was now appointed to reside at the Austrian head- 
quarters, entertained the same idea of the general's 
sincerity. It was not, however, put so clearly to 
the proof as it ought to have been. He replied, that 
as soon as Nelson could declare himself ready with 
the vessels necessary for conveying 10,000 men, with 
their artillery and baggage, he would put the army 
in motion. But Nelson was not enabled to do this : 
Admiral Hotham, who was highly meritorious in 
leaving such a man so much at his own discretion, 
pursued a cautious system, ill-according with the 
bold and comprehensive views of Nelson, who con- 
tinually regretted Lord Hood, saying, that the nation 
had sufi'ered much by his resignation of the Mediter- 
ranean command. The plan which had been con- 
certed, he said, would astonish the French, and 
perhaps the English. 



Life of Nelson 73 

There was no unity in the views of the allied powers, 
no cordiality in their co-operation, no energy in their 
councils. The neutral powers assisted France more 
effectually than the allies assisted each other. The 
Genoese ports were at this time filled with French 
privateers, which swarmed out every night, and 
covered the gulf; and French vessels were allowed 
to tow out of the port of Genoa itself, board vessels 
which were coming in, and then return into the mole. 
This was allowed without a remonstrance; while, 
though Nelson abstained most carefully from offering 
any offence to the Genoese territory or flag, com- 
plaints were so repeatedly made against his squadron, 
that, he says, it seemed a trial who should be tired 
first — they of complaining or he of answering their 
complaints. But the question of neutrality was soon 
at an end. An Austrian commissary was travelling 
from Genoa towards Vado; it was known that he 
was to sleep at Voltri, and that he had ;^io,ooo with 
him; a booty which the French minister in that city, 
and the captain of a French frigate in that port, 
considered as far more important than the word 
of honour of the one, the duties of the other, and 
the laws of neutrality. The boats of the frigate went 
out with some privateers, landed, robbed the com- 
missary, and brought back the money to Genoa. 
The next day men were publicly enlisted in that city 
for the French army : 700 men were embarked, w?th 
7,000 stand of arms, on board the frigates and other 
vessels, who were to land between Voltri and Savona : 
— there a detachment from the French army was to 
join them, and the Genoese peasantry were to be 
invited to insurrection, — a measure for which every- 
thing had been prepared. The night of the 13th was 
fixed for the sailing of this expedition : the Austrians 
called loudly for Nelson to prevent it; and he, on the 
evening of the 13th, arrived at Genoa. His presence 
checked the plan : the frigate, knowing her deserts, 
got within the merchant-ships, in the inner mole; 



74 Robert Southey's 

and the Genoese Government did not now even 
demand of Nelson respect to the neutral port, know- 
ing that they had allowed, if not connived at, a 
dagrant breach of neutrality, and expecting the 
answer which he was prepared to return, that it was 
useless and impossible for him to respect it longer. 

But though this movement produced the immediate 
effect which was designed, it led to ill consequences, 
which Nelson foresaw, but, for want of sufficient 
force, was unable to prevent. His squadron was too 
small for the service which it had to perform. He 
required two seventy-fours, and eight or ten frigates 
and sloops ; but when he demanded this reinforce- 
ment, Admiral Hotham had left the command; Sir 
Hyde Parker succeeded, till the new commander 
should arrive; and he immediately reduced it almost 
to nothing, leaving him only one frigate and a brig. 
This was a fatal error. While the Austrian and 
Sardinian troops, whether from the imbecility or the 
treachery of their leaders, remained inactive, the 
French were preparing for the invasion of Italy. 
Not many days before Nelson was thus summoned 
to Genoa, he chased a large convoy into Alassio. 
Twelve vessels he had formerly destroyed in that 
port, though 2,000 French troops occupied the town : 
this former attack had made them take new measures 
of defence; and there were now above 100 sail of 
victuallers, gun-boats, and ships of war. Nelson 
represented to the admiral how important it was to 
destroy these vessels ; and offered, with his squadron 
of frigates, and the Culloden and Courageux, to lead 
himself in the Agamemnony and take or destroy the 
whole. The attempt was not permitted ; but it was 
Nelson's belief that, if it had been made, it would 
have prevented the attack upon the Austrian army, 
which took place almost immediately afterwards. 

General de Vins demanded satisfaction of the 
Genoese Government for the seizure of his com- 
missary; and then, not waiting for their reply, took 



Life of Nelson 75 

possession of some empty magazines of the French, 
and pushed his sentinels to the very gates of Genoa. 
Had he done so at first he would have found the 
magazines full; but, timed as the measure was, and 
useless as it was to the cause of the allies, it was 
in character with the whole of the Austrian general's 
conduct ; and it is no small proof of the dexterity with 
which he served the enemy, that in such circum- 
stances he could so act with Genoa as to contrive to 
put himself in the wrong. Nelson was at this time, 
according to his own expression, placed in a cleft 
stick. Mr. Drake, the Austrian minister, and the 
Austrian general, all joined in requiring him not to 
leave Genoa; if he left that port unguarded, they 
said, not only the imperial troops at St. Pier d 'Arena 
and Voltri would be lost, but the French plan for 
taking post between Voltri and Savona would cer- 
tainly succeed ; if the Austrians should be worsted in 
the advanced posts, the retreat by the Bocchetta 
would be cut off; and if this happened, the loss of 
the army would be imputed to him for having left 
Genoa. On the other hand, he knew, that if he were 
not at Pietra, the enemy's gun-boats would harass 
the left flank of the Austrians, who, if they were 
defeated, as was to be expected from the spirit of 
all their operations, would, very probably, lay their 
defeat to the want of assistance from the Agamemnon. 
Had the force for which Nelson applied been given 
him, he could have attended to both objects : and had 
he been permitted to attack the convoy in Alassio, 
he would have disconcerted the plans of the French, 
in spite of the Austrian general. He had foreseen 
the danger, and pointed out how it might be pre- 
vented ; but the means of preventing it were withheld. 
The attack was made, as he foresaw; and the gun- 
boats brought their fire to bear upon the Austrians. 
It so happened, however, that the left flank, which 
was exposed to them, was the only part of the army 
that behaved well; this division stood its ground til5 



76 Robert Southey's 

the centre and the right wing fled, and then retreated 
in a soldier-like manner. General de Vins gave up 
the command in the middle of the battle, pleading ill- 
health. " From that moment,*' says Nelson, *' not 
a soldier stayed at bis post — it was the devil take 
the hindmost. Many thousands ran away who had 
never seen the enemy; some of them thirty miles 
from the advanced posts. Had I not, though, I 
o^;vn, against my inclination, been kept at Genoa, 
from 8,000 to 10,000 men would have been taken 
prisoners, and, amongst the number General de Vins 
himself; but, by this means, the pass of the Bocchetta 
was kept open. The purser of the ship, who was at 
Vado, ran with the Austrians eighteen miles without 
stopping; the men without arms, officers without 
soldiers, women without assistance. The oldest 
officer, say they, never heard of so complete a defeat, 
and certainly without any reason. Thus has ended 
my campaign. We have established the French 
Republic, which, but for us, I verily believe, would 
never have been settled by such a volatile, changeable 
people. I hate a Frenchman : they are equally objects 
of my detestation, whether Royalists or Republicans ; 
in some points, I believe the latter are the best.** 
Nelson had a lieutenant and two midshipmen taken 
at Vado; they told him, in their letter, that few of 
the French soldiers were more than three- or four- 
and-twenty years old, a great many not more than 
fourteen, and all were nearly naked ; they were sure, 
they said, his barge's crew could have beat a hundred 
of them; and that, had he himself seen them, he 
would not have thought, if the world had been covered 
with such people, that they could have beaten the 
Austrian army. 

The defeat of General de Vins gave the enemy 
possession of the Genoese coast from Savona to 
Voltri ; and it deprived the Austrians of their direct 
communication with the English fleet. The A gamem^ 
norif therefore, could no longer be useful on this 



Life of Nelson 77 

station, and Neteon sailed for Leghorn to refit. 
When his ship went into dock, there was not a mast, 
yard, sail, or any part of the rigging, but what 
stood in need of repair, having been cut to pieces 
with shot. The hull was so damaged that it had 
for some time been secured by having cables served 
or thrapped round. 



CHAPTER IV 

Sir John Jervis had now arrived to take 
the command of the Mediterranean fleet. The 
Agamemnon having, as her captain said, been made 
as fit for sea as a rotten ship could be. Nelson sailed 
from Leghorn, and joined the admiral in Fiorenzo 
Bay. *' I found him," said he, '* anxious to know 
many things, which I was a good deal surprised to 
find had not been communicated to him by others in 
the fleet; and it would appear that he was so well 
satisfied with my opinion of what is likely to happen, 
and the means of prevention to be taken, that he had 
no reserve with me respecting his information, and 
ideas of what is likely to be done." The manner in 
which Nelson was received is said to have excited 
some envy. One captain observed to him : '* You 
did just as you pleased in Lord Hood's time, the 
same in Admiral Hotham's, and now again with Sir 
John Jervis : it makes no difference to you who is 
commander-in-chief." A higher compliment could 
not have been paid to any commander-in-chief, than 
to say of him, that he rnderstood the merits of Nel- 
son, and left him, as far as possible, to act upon his 
own judgment. 

Sir John Jervis offered him the St. George ^ 90, or 
the Zealous y 74, and asked if he should have any 
objection to serve under him with his flag. He 
replied, that if the Agamemnon were ordered home^ 



78 Robert Southey's 

and his flag were not arrived, he should, on many 
accounts, wish to return to England; still, if the war 
continued, he should be very proud of hoisting his 
flag under Sir John's command. *' We cannot spare 
you," said Sir John, ** either as captain or admiral." 
Accordingly, he resumed his station in the Gulf of 
Genoa. The French had not followed up their 
successes in that quarter with their usual celerity. 
Scherer, who commanded there, was one of the few 
French generals, during the Revolution, who owed 
their advancement to other causes than merit : he 
was a favourite of the Directory ; but, for the present, 
through the influence of Barras, he was removed 
from a command for which his incapacity was after- 
wards clearly proved, and Buonaparte was appointed 
to succeed him. Buonaparte had given indications 
of his military talents at Toulon, and of his remorse- 
less nature at Paris ; but the extent either of his 
ability or his wickedness was at this time known to 
none, and perhaps not even suspected by himself. 

Nelson supposed, from the information which he 
had obtained, that one column of the French army 
would take possession of Port Especia, either pene- 
trating through the Genoese territory, or proceeding 
coastways in light vessels — our ships of war not 
being able to approach the coast because of the 
shallowness of the water. To prevent this, he said, 
two things were necessary ; — the possession of Vado 
Bay, and the taking of Port Especia. If either of 
these points were secured, Italy would be safe from 
any attack of the French by sea. General Beaulieu, 
who had now superseded De Vins in the command 
of the allied Austrian and Sardinian army, sent his 
nephew and aide-de-camp to communicate with Nel- 
son, and inquire whether he could anchor in any other 
place than Vado Bay. Nelson replied, that Vado was 
the only place where the British fleet could lie in 
safety ; but all places would suit his squadron ; and 
wherever the general came down to the sea-coast, 



Life of Nelson 79 

there he should find it The Austrian repeatedly 
asked, if there was not a risk of losing the squadron ? 
and was constantly answered, that if these ships 
should be lost, the admiral would find others. But 
all plans of co-operation with the Austrians were 
soon frustrated by the battle of Montenotte. Beaulieu 
ordered an attack to be made upon the post of Voltri : 
— It was made twelve hours before the time which he 
had fixed, and before he arrived to direct it. In 
consequence, the French were enabled to effect their 
retreat, and fall back to Montenotte; thus giving the 
troops there a decisive superiority in number over the 
division which attacked them. This drew on the 
defeat of the Austrians. Buonaparte, with a celerity 
which had never before been witnessed in modern 
war, pursued his advantages ; and, in the course of a 
fortnight, dictated to the court of Turin terms of 
peace, or rather of submission, by which all the 
strongest places of Piedmont were put into his hands. 
On one occasion, and only on one. Nelson was able 
to impede the progress of this new conqueror. Six 
vessels, laden with cannon and ordnance-stores for the 
siege of Mantua, sailed from Toulon for St. Pier 
d 'Arena. Assisted by Captain Cockburn, in the 
Meleagery he drove them under a battery, pursued 
them, silenced the batteries, and captured the whole. 
Military books, plans, and maps of Italy, with the 
different points marked upon them where former 
battles had been fought, sent by the Directory for 
Buonaparte's use, were found in the convoy. The 
loss of this artillery was one of the chief causes which 
compelled the French to raise the siege of Mantua; 
but there was too much treachery, and too much im- 
becility, both in the councils and armies of the allied 
powers, for Austria to improve this momentary 
success. Buonaparte perceived that the conquest of 
all Italy was within his reach : treaties, and the rights 
of neutral or of friendly powers, were as little re- 
garded by him as by the Government for which he 



8o Robert Southey's 

acted : in open contempt of both he entered Tuscany, 
and took possession of Leghorn. In consequence of 
this movement, Nelson blockaded that port, and landed 
a British force in the isle of Elba to secure Porto 
Ferrajo. Soon afterwards he took the island of 
Capraja, which had formerly belonged to Corsica, 
being less than forty miles distant from it :-% distance, 
however, short as it was, which enabled the Genoese 
to retain it, after their infamous sale of Corsica to 
France. Genoa had now taken part with France ; its 
Government had long covertly assisted the French, 
and now willingly yielded to the first compulsory 
menace which required them to exclude the English 
from their ports. Capraja was seized, in conse- 
quence ; but this act of vigour was not followed up as 
it ought to have been. England at that time depended 
too much upon the rotten governments of the Con- 
tinent, and too little uf)on itself. It was determined 
by the British Cabinet to evacuate Corsica, as soon 
as Spain should form an offensive alliance with 
France. This event, which, from the moment that 
Spain had been compelled to make peace, was clearly 
foreseen, had now taken place; and orders for the 
evacuation of the island were immediately sent out. 
It was impolitic to annex this island to the British 
-dominions; but, having done so, it was disgraceful 
thus to abandon it. The disgrace would have been 
spared, and every advantage which could have been 
derived from the possession of the island secured, if 
the people had at first been left to form a government 
for themselves, and protected by us in the enjoyment 
of their independence. 

The viceroy. Sir Gilbert Elliot, deeply felt the im- 
policy and ignominy of this evacuation. The fleet 
also was ordered to leave the Mediterranean. This 
resolution was so contrary to the last instructions 
which had been received, that Nelson exclaimed : — 
** Do his Majesty's ministers know their own minds? 
They at home,** said he, " do not know what this fleet 



Life of Nelson 8i 

is capable of performing — anything and everything. 
Much as I shall rejoice to see England, I 
lament our present orders in sackcloth and ashes, 
so dishonourable to the dignity of England, whose 
fleets are equal to meet the world in arms : and 
of all the fleets I ever saw, I never beheld one 
in point of officers and men, equal to Sir John 
Jervis's, who is a commander-in-chief able to lead 
them to glory.*' Sir Gilbert Elliot believed that 
the great body of the Corsicans were perfectly 
satisfied, as they had good reason to be, with the 
British government, sensible of its advantages, and 
attached to it. However this may have been, when 
they found that the English intended to evacuate the 
island, they naturally and necessarily sent to make 
peace with the French. The partisans of France 
found none to oppose them. A committee of thirty 
took upon them the government of Bastia, and 
sequestered all the British property; armed Cor- 
sicans mounted guard at every place, and a plan was 
laid for seizing the viceroy. Nelson, who was 
appointed to superintend the evacuation, frustrated 
these projects. At a time when every one else 
despaired of saving stores, cannon, provisions, or 
property of any kind, and a privateer was moored 
across the mole-head to prevent all boats from pass- 
ing, he sent word to the committee, that if the 
slightest opposition were made to the embarkment 
and removal of British property, he would batter the 
town down. The privateer pointed her guns at the 
officer, who carried this message, and muskets were 
levelled against his boats from the mole-head. Upon 
this. Captain Sutton, of the Egmont, pulling out his 
watch, gave them a quarter of an hour to deliberate 
upon their answer. In five minutes after the expira- 
tion of that time, the ships, he said, would open their 
fire. Upon this the very sentinels scampered off, and 
every vessel came out of the mole. A ship-owner 
complained to the commodore that the municipality 

G 



82 Robert Southey's 

refused to let him take his goods out of the custom- 
house. Nelson directed him to say, that unless they 
were instantly delivered, he would open his fire. The 
committee turned pale, and without answering a word 
gave him the keys. Their last attempt was to levy a 
duty upon the things that were re-embarked. He sent 
them word that he would pay them a disagreeable visit 
if there were any more complaints. The committee 
then finding that they had to deal with a man who 
knew his own power, and was determined to make the 
British name respected, desisted from the insolent 
conduct which they had assumed : and it was acknow- 
ledged that Bastia never had been so quiet and 
orderly since the English were in possession of it. 
This was on the 14th of October : during the five fol- 
lowing days the work of embarkation was carried on, 
the private property was saved, and public stores to 
the amount of ;^2oo,ooo. The French, favoured by 
the Spanish fleet, which was at that time within 
twelve leagues of Bastia, pushed over troops from 
Leghorn, who landed near Cape Corse on the i8th, and 
on the 20th, at one in the morning, entered the citadel, 
an hour only after the British had spiked the guns 
and evacuated it. Nelson embarked at daybreak, 
being the last person who left the shore ; having thus, 
as he said, seen the first and the last of Corsica. 
Provoked at the conduct of the municipality, and the 
disposition which the populace had shown to profit by 
the confusion, he turned toward the shore, as he 
stepped into his boat, and exclaimed : " Now, John 
Corse, follow the natural bent of your detestable 
character — plunder and revenge." This, however, 
was not Nelson's deliberate opinion of the people of 
Corsica; he knew that their vices were the natural 
consequences of internal anarchy and foreign oppres- 
sion, such as the same causes would produce in any 
people : and when he saw, that of all those who took 
leave of the viceroy, there was not one who parted 
from him without tears, he acknowledged that they 



Life of Nelson 83 

manifestly acted not from dislike of the English, but 
from fear of the French. England then might, with 
more reason, reproach her own rulers for pusillani- 
mity, than the Corsicans for ingratitude. 

Having thus ably effected this humiliating service, 
Nelson was ordered to hoist his broad pendant on 
board the Minerve frigate. Captain George Cock- 
burn, and, with the Blanche under his command, 
proceed to Porto Ferrajo and superintend the evacua- 
tion of that place also. On his way he fell in with 
two Spanish frigates, the Sabina and the Ceres. The 
Minerve engaged the former, which was commanded 
by D. Jacobo Stuart, a descendant of the Duke of 
Berwick. After an action of three hours, during 
which the Spaniards lost 164 men, the Sabina struck. 
The Spanish captain, who was the only surviving 
officer, had hardly been conveyed on board the 
Minerve y when another enemy's frigate came up, 
compelled her to cast off the prize, and brought her 
a second time to action. After half an hour's trial of 
strength this new antagonist wore and hauled off; 
but a Spanish squadron of two ships of the line and 
two frigates came in sight. The Blanche y from 
which the Ceres had got off, was far to windward, 
and the Minerve escaped only by the anxiety of the 
enemy to recover their own ship. As soon as Nelson 
reached Porto Ferrajo, he sent his prisoner in a flag 
of truce to Carthagena, having returned him his 
sword ; this he did in honour of the gallantry which 
D. Jacobo had displayed, and not without some feel- 
ing of respect for his ancestry. ** I felt it," said he, 
** consonant to the dignity of my country, and I 
always act as I feel right, without regard to custom : 
he was reputed the best officer in Spain, and his men 
were worthy of such a commander." By the same 
flag of truce he sent back all the Spanish prisoners at 
Porto Ferrajo ; in exchange for whom he received his 
own men who had been taken in the prize. 

General de Burgh, who commanded at the isle of 



84 Robert Southey s 

Elba, did not think himself authorised to abandon the 
place, till he had received specific instructions from 
England to that effect, professing that he was unable 
to decide between the contradictory orders of Govern- 
ment, or to guess at what their present intentions 
might be; but he said his only motive for urging 
delay in this measure arose from a desire that his 
own conduct might be properly sanctioned — not from 
any opinion that Porto Ferrajo ought to be retained. 
But Naples having made peace, Sir J. Jervis con- 
sidered his business with Italy as concluded ; and the 
prelection of Portugal was the point to which he was 
DOW instructed to atteiKl. Nelson, therefore, whose 
orders were perfectly clear aiwd explicit, withdrew the 
whole naval establishment from that station, leaving 
the transports victualled, and so arranged that all the 
troops and stores could be embarked in three days. 
He was now about to leave the Mediterranean. Mr. 
Drake, vrho had been our minister at Genoa, ex- 
pressed to him, on this occasion, the very high 
opinion which the allies entertained of his con- 
spicuous merit; adding, that it was impossible for 
any one, who had the honour of co-operating with 
him, not to admire the activity, talents, and zeal 
which he had so eminently and constantly displayed. 
In fact, during this long course of services in the 
Mediterranean, the whole of his conduct had ex- 
hibited the same zeal, the same indefatigable energy, 
the same intuitive judgment, the same prompt and 
unerring decision, which characterised his after- 
career of glory. His name was as yet hardly known 
to the English public ; but it was feared and respected 
throughout Italy. A letter came to him, directed 
** Horatio Nelson, Genoa "; and the writer, when he 
was asked how he could direct it so vaguely, replied, 
** Sir, there is but one Horatio Nelson in the world." 
At Genoa, in particular, where he had so long been 
stationed, and where the nature of his duty first led 
him to continual disputes with the Government, and 



Life of Nelson 85 

afterwards compelled him to stop the trade of the 
port, he was equally respected by the Doge and by the 
people; for, while he maintained the rights and in- 
terests of Great Britain with becoming firmness, he 
tempered the exercise of power with courtesy and 
humanity, wherever duty would permit. ** Had all 
my actions,*' said he, writing at this time to his 
wife, " been gazetted, not one fortnight would have 
passed, during the whole war, without a letter from 
me. One day or other I will have a long gazette to 
myself. I feel that such an opf>ortunity will be given 
me. I cannot, if I am in the field of glory, be kept 
out of sight : wherever there is anything to be done, 
there Providence is sure to direct my steps." 

These hopes and anticipations were soon to be 
fulfilled. Nelson's mind had long been irritated and 
depressed by the fear that a general action would 
take place before he could join the fleet. At length 
he sailed from Porto Ferrajo with a convoy for 
Gibraltar; and having reached that place, proceeded 
to the westward in search of the admiral. Off the 
mouth of the Straits he fell in with the Spanish fleet; 
and on the 13th of February, reaching the station off 
Cape St. Vincent's, communicated this intelligence 
to Sir John Jervis. He was now directed to shift 
his broad pendant on board the Captain, 74, Captain 
R. W. Miller; and, before sunset, the signal was 
made to prepare for action, and to keep, during the 
night, in close order. At daybreak the enemy were 
in sight. The British force consisted of two ships of 
100 guns, two of 98, two of 90, eight of 74, and one 
64 — fifteen of the line in all, with four frigates, a 
sloop, and a cutter. The Spaniards had one four- 
decker, of 136 guns; six three-deckers, of 112; two 
84s ; eighteen 74s — in all, twenty-seven ships of the 
line, with ten frigates and a brig. Their admiral, D. 
Joseph de Cordova, had learnt from an American, on 
the 5th, that the English had only nine ships, which 
was indeed the case when his informer had seen 



86 Robert Southey's 

them ; for a reinforcement of five ships from England, 
under Admiral Parker, had not then joined, and the 
Culloden had parted company. Upon this informa- 
tion, the Spanish commander, instead of going into 
Cadiz, as was his intention when he sailed from 
Carthagena, determined to seek an enemy so inferior 
in force; and relying, with fatal confidence, upon the 
American account, he suffered his ships to remain too 
far dispersed, and in some disorder. When the 
morning of the 14th broke, and discovered the Eng- 
lish fleet, a fog for some time concealed their number. 
The look-out ship of the Spaniards, fancying that 
her signal was disregarded, because so little notice 
seemed to be taken of it, made another signal, that 
the English force consisted of forty sail of the line. 
The captain afterwards said he did this to rouse the 
admiral : it had the effect of perplexing him, and 
alarming the whole fleet. The absurdity of such an 
act shows what was the state of the Spanish navy 
under that miserable government by which Spain was 
so long oppressed and degraded, and finally betrayed. 
In reality, the general incapacity of the naval officers 
was so well known, that in a pasquinade, which about 
this time appeared at Madrid, wherein the diff^erent 
orders of" the state were advertised for sale, the 
greater part of the sea-officers, with all their equip- 
ments, were offered as a gift; and it was added that 
any person who would please to take them should 
receive a handsome gratuity. 

Before the enemy could form a regular order of 
battle. Sir J. Jervis, by carrying a press of sail, 
came up with them, passed through their fleet, then 
tacked, and thus cut off nine of their ships from the 
main body. These ships attempted to form on the 
larboard tack, either with a design of passing through 
the British line, or to leeward of it, and thus rejoining 
their friends. Only one of them succeeded in this 
attempt; and that only because she was so covered 
with smoke that her intention was not discovered 



Life of Nelson 87 

till she had reached the rear : the others were so 
warmly received that they put about, took to flight, 
and did not appear again in the action till its close. 
The admiral was now able to direct his attention to 
the enemy's main body, which was still superior in 
number to his whole fleet, and more so in weight of 
metal. He made signal to tack in succession. Nel- 
son, whose station was in the rear of the British 
line, perceived that the Spaniards were bearing up 
before the wind, with an intention of forming their 
line, going large, and joining their separated ships ; 
or else, of getting off without an engagenwnt. To 
prevent either of these schemes, he disobeyed the 
signal without a moment's hesitation, and ordered 
his ship to be wore. This at once brought him into 
action with the Santissima Trinidad^ 136, the San 
Josephy 112, the Salvador del MundOy 112, the San 
Nicolas y 80, the San Isidroy 74, another 74, and 
another first-rate. Trowbridge, in the Cullodeny 
immediately joined, and most nobly supported him; 
and for nearly an hour did the CuUoden and Captain 
maintain what Nelson called ** this apparently, but 
not really, unequal contest"; — such was the advan- 
tage of skill and discipline, and the confidence which 
brave men derive from them. The Blenheim, then 
passing between them and the enemy, gave them a 
respite, and poured in her fire upon the Spaniards. 
The Salvador del Mundo and S. Isidro dropped 
astern, and were fired into, in a masterly style, by the 
Excellenty Captain Collingwood. The 5. Isidro 
struck; and Nelson thought that the Salvador struck 
also: ** But Collingwood," says he, ''disdaining the 
parade of taking possession of beaten enemies, most 
gallantly pushed up, with every sail set, to save his 
old friend and messmate, who was, to appearance, 
in a critical situation "; for the Captain was at this 
time actually fired upon by three first-rates, by the 
S. Nicolas, and by a 74, within about pistol-shot of 
that vesseL The Blenheim was ahead, the CuUoden 



88 Robert Southey's 

crippled and astern. Colling-wood ranged up, and 
hauling up his mainsail just astern, passed within ten 
feet of the S. Nicolas, giving- her a most tremendous 
fire, then passed on for the Santissima Trinidad. 
The S, Nicolas luffing up, the S. Joseph fell on board 
her, and Nelson resumed his station abreast of them, 
and close alongside. The Captain was now incapable 
of farther service, either in the line or in chase : she 
had lost her fore-topmast; not a sail, shroud, or rope 
was left, and her wheel was shot away. Nelson, 
therefore, directed Captain Miller to put the helm 
a-starboard, and, calling for the boarders, ordered 
them to board. 

Captain Berry, who had lately been Nelson's first 
lieutenant, was the first man who leaped into the 
enemy's mizen-chains. Miller, when in the very act 
of going, was ordered by Nelson to remain. Berry 
was supported from the sprit-sailyard, which locked 
in the S. Nicolas's main rigging. A soldier of the 
6gth broke the upper quarter-gallery window, and 
jumped in, followed by the Commodore himself, and 
by others as fast as possible. The cabin doors were 
fastened, and the Spanish oflScers fired their pistols 
at them through the window : the doors were soon 
forced, and the Spanish brigadier fell while retreating 
to the quarter-deck. Nelson pushed on, and found 
Berry in possession of the poop, and the Spanish 
ensign hauling down. He passed on to the fore- 
castle, where he met two or three Spanish officers, 
and received their swords. The English were now in 
full possession of every part of the ship; and a fire 
of pistols and musketry opened upon them from the 
admiral's stern gallery of the San Joseph. Nelson 
having placed sentinels at the different ladders, and 
ordered Captain Miller to send more men into the 
prize, gave orders for boarding that ship from the 
San Nicolas. It was done in an instant, he himself 
leading the way, and exclaiming — '* Westminster 
Abbey, or victory ! " Berry assisted him into the 



Life of Nelson 89 

main-chains; and at that moment a Spanish officer 
looked over the quarter-deckrail, and said they sur- 
rendered. It was not long before he was on the 
quarter-deck, where the Spanish captain presented to 
him his sword, and told him the admiral was below, 
dying of his wounds. There, on the quarter-deck of 
an enemy's first-rate, he received the swords of the 
officers; giving them, as they were delivered, one by 
one, to William Fearney, one of his old Agamemnon's 
who, with the utmost coolness, put them under his 
arm. One of his sailors came up, and, with an Eng- 
lishman's feeling, took him by the hand, saying, he 
might not soon have such another place to do it in, 
and he was heartily glad to see him there. Twenty- 
four of the Captain's men were killed, and fifty-six 
wounded; a fourth part of the loss sustained by the 
whole squadron falling upon this ship. Nelson 
received only a few bruises. 

The Spaniards had still eighteen or nineteen ships, 
which had suffered little or no injury : that part of the 
fleet which had been separated from the main body 
in the morning was now coming up, and Sir John 
Jervis made signal to bring to. His ships could not 
have formed without abandoning those which they 
had captured, and running to leeward : the Captain 
was lying a perfect wreck on board her two prizes, 
and many of the other vessels were so shattered in 
their masts and rigging as to be wholly unmanage- 
able. The Spanish admiral, meantime, according to 
his official account, being altogether undecided in his 
own opinion respecting the state of the fleet, inquired 
of his captains whether it was proper to renew the 
action : nine of them answered explicitly that it was 
not ; others replied, that it was expedient to delay the 
business. The Pelayo and the Principe Conquistador 
were the only ships that were for fighting. 

As soon as the action was discontinued, Nelson 
went on board the admiral's ship. Sir John Jervis 
received him on the quarter-deck, took him in his 



90 Robert Southey's 

arms, and said he could not sufficiently thank him. 
For this victory the commander-in-chief was rewarded 
with the title of Earl St. Vincent. Nelson, who, be- 
fore the action was known in England, had been 
advanced to the rank of rear-admiral, had the Order 
of the Bath given him. The sword of the Spanish 
rear-admiral, whick Sir John Jervis insisted upon his 
keeping, he presented to the mayor and corporation 
of Norwich, saying that he knew no place where it 
could give him or his family more pleasure to have it 
kept than in the capital city of the county where he 
was bom. The freedom of that city was voted him 
on this occasion. But of all the numerous congratu- 
lations which he received, none could have affected 
him with deeper delight than that which came from 
his venerable father. ** I thank my God,** said this 
excellent man, ** with all the power of a grateful soul, 
for the mercies He has most graciously bestowed on 
me in preserving you. Not only my few acquaint- 
ances here, but the people in general, met me at every 
corner with such handsome words, that I was obliged 
to retire from the public eye. The height of glory to 
which your professional judgment, united with a 
proper degree of bravery, guarded by Providence, 
has raised you, few sons, my dear child, attain to, 
and fewer fathers live to see. Tears of joy have in- 
^yoluntarily trickled down my furrowed cheeks : who 
could stand the force of such general congratulation ? 
The name and services of Nelson have sounded 
throughout this city of Bath — from the common 
ballad-singer to the public theatre." The good old 
man concluded by telling him that the field of glory, 
in which he had so long been conspicuous, was still 
c^en, and by giving him his blessing. 

Sir Horatio, who had now hoisted his flag as rear- 
admiral of the blue, was sent to bring away the troops 
from Porto Ferrajo : having performed this, he shifted 
his flag to the Theseus. That ship had taken part in 
the mutiny in England, and being just arrived from 



Life of Nelson 91 

home, some danger was apprehended from the temper 
of the men. This was one reason why Nelson was 
removed to her. He had not been on board many 
weeks before a paper, signed in the name of all the 
ship's company, was dropped on the quarter-deck, 
containing these words : " Success attend Admiral 
Nelson ! God bless Captain Miller ! We thank them 
for the officers they have placed over us. We are 
happy and comfortable, and will shed every drop of 
blood in our veins to support them ; — and the name of 
the Theseus shall be immortalised as high as her 
captain's." Wherever Nelson commanded, the men 
soon became attached to him; — in ten days' time he 
would have restored the most mutinous ship in the 
navy to order. Whenever an officer fails to win the 
afifections of those who are under his command, he 
may be assured that the fault is chiefly in himself. 

While Sir Horatio was in the Theseus he was em- 
ployed in the command of the inner squadron at the 
blockade of Cadiz. During this service the most 
perilous action occurred in which he was ever en- 
gaged. Making a night attack upon the Spanish gun- 
boats, his barge was attacked by an armed launch, 
under their commander, D. Miguel Tregoyen, carry- 
ing twenty-six men. Nelson had with him only his 
ten bargemen. Captain Freemantle, and his coxswain, 
John Sykes, an old and faithful follower, who twice 
saved the life of his admiral by parrying the blows 
that were aimed at him, and at last actually interposed 
his own head to receive the blov/ of a Spanish sabre, 
which he could not by any other means avert ; — thus 
dearly was Nelson beloved. This was a desperate 
service — hand to hand with swords : and Nelson 
always considered that his personal courage was more 
conspicuous on this occasion than on any other during 
his whole life. Notwithstanding the great dispropor- 
tion of numbers, eighteen of the enemy were killed. 
all the rest wounded, and their launch taken. Nelson 
would have asked for a lieutenancy for Sykes, if he 



92 Robert Southey's 

had served long enough : his manner and conduct, he 
observed, were so entirely above his situation, that 
Nature certainly intended him for a gentleman : but 
though he recovered from the dangerous wound which 
he received in this act of heroic attachment, he did 
not live to profit by the gratitude and friendship of 
his commander. 

Twelve days after this rencontre, Nelson sailed at 
the head of an expedition against Teneriffe. A report 
had prevailed a few months before, that the viceroy of 
Mexico, with the treasure-ships, had put into that 
island. This had led Nelson to meditate the plan of 
an attack upon it, which he communicated to Earl 
St. Vincent. He was perfectly aware of the difficul- 
ties of the attempt. **I do not," said he, " reckon 
myself equal to Blake ; but, if I recollect right, he was 
more obliged to the wind coming off the land than to 
any exertions of his own. The approach by sea to the 
anchoring-place is under very high land, passing three 
valleys ; therefore the wind is either in from the sea, 
or squally with calms from the mountains " : and he 
perceived, that if the Spanish ships were won, the 
object would still be frustrated if the wind did not 
come off shore. The land force, he thought, would 
render success certain ; and there were the troops from 
Elba, with all necessary stores and artillery, already 
embarked. ** But here,** said he, ** soldiers must be 
consulted; and I know, from experience, they have 
not the same boldness in undertaking a political 
measure that we have : we look to the benefit of our 
country, and risk our own fame every day to serve 
her; — a soldier obeys his orders, and no more." 
Nelson's experience at Ck)rsica justified him in this 
harsh opinion; — he did not live to see the glorious 
days of the British army under Wellington. The 
army from Elba, consisting of 3,700 men, would do 
the business, he said, in three days, probably in much 
less time ; and he would undertake, with a very small 
squadron, to perform the naval part ; for though the 



Life of Nelson 93 

shore was not easy of access, the transports might 
run in and land the troops in one day. 

The report concerning the viceroy was unfounded ; 
but a homeward-bound Manilla ship put into Santa 
Cruz at this time, and the expedition was determined 
upon. It was not fitted out upon the scale which 
Nelson had proposed. Four ships of the line, three 
frigates, and the Fox cutter, formed the squadron ; 
and he was allowed to choose such ships and officers 
as he thought proper. No troops were embarked, the 
seamen and marines of the squadron being thought 
sufficient. His orders were to make a vigorous 
attack, but on no account to land in person, unless 
his presence should be absolutely necessary. The plan 
was, that the boats should land m the night, between 
the fort on the N.E. side of Santa Cruz bay and the 
town, make themselves masters of that fort, and then 
send a summons to the governor. By midnight, the 
three frigates, having the force on board which was 
intended for this debarkation, approached within three 
miles of the place ; but, owing to a strong gale of wind 
in the offing, and a strong current against them in- 
shore, they were not able to get within a mile of the 
landing-place before daybreak; and then they were 
seen, and their intention discovered. Trowbridge 
and Bowen, with Captain Oldfield, of the marines, 
went upon this to consult with the admiral what was 
to be done; and it was resolved that they should 
attempt to get possession of the heights above the 
fort. The frigates accordingly landed their men ; and 
Nelson stood in with the line-of-battle ships, meaning 
to batter the fort, for the purpose of distracting the 
attention of the garrison. A calm and contrary cur- 
rents hindered him from getting within a league of 
the shore; and the heights were by this time so 
secured, and manned with such a force, as to be 
judged impracticable. Thus foiled in his plans by cir- 
cumstances of wind and tide, he still considered it a 
point of honour that some attempt should be made. 



94 Robert Southey s 

This was on the 22nd of July : he re-embarked his men 
that nig-ht, got the ships, on the 24th, to anchor about 
two miles north of the town, and made show as if he 
intended to attack the heig-hts. At six in the evening 
signal was made for the boats to prepare to proceed 
on service as previously ordered. 

When this was done, Nelson addressed a letter to 
the commander-in-chief — the last which was ever 
written with his right hand. ** I shall not," said he, 
" enter on the subject, why we are not in possession 
of Santa Cruz. Your partiality will give credit that 
all has hitherto been done which was possible; but 
without effect. This night I, humble as I am, com- 
mand the whole, destined to land under the batteries 
of the town ; and to-morrow my head will probably 
be crowned either with laurel or cypress. I have only 
to recommend Josiah Nisbet to you and my country. 
The Duke of Clarence, should I fall, will, I am con- 
fident, take a lively interest for my step-son, on 
his name being mentioned." Perfectly aware how 
desperate a service this was likely to prove, before 
he left the Theseus he called Lieutenant Nisbet, who 
had the watch on deck, into the cabin, that he might 
assist in arranging and burning his mother's letters. 
Perceiving that the young man was armed, he ear- 
nestly begged him to remain behind. ** Should we 
both fall, Josiah," said he, '* what would become of 
your poor mother? The care of the Theseus falls to 
you : stay, therefore, and take charge of her." Nisbet 
replied : ** Sir, the ship must take care of herself; I 
will go with you to-night, if I never go again." 

He met his captains at supper on board the Sea- 
horsey Captain Freemantle, whose wife, whom he had 
lately married in the Mediterranean, presided at table. 
At eleven o'clock the boats, containing between 600 
and 700 men, with 180 on board the Fox cutter, and 
from 70 to 80 in a boat which had been taken the day 
before, proceeded in six divisions toward the town, 
conducted by all the captains of the squadron, except 



Life of Nelson 95 

Freemantle and Bowen, who attended with Nelson to 
rtrg-ulate and lead the way to the attack. They were 
to land on the mole, and thence hasten, as fast as 
possible, into the great square; then form, and pro- 
ceed as should be found expedient, Tliey were not 
discovered till about half -past one o'clock, when, 
being within half gun-shot of the landing-place. Nel- 
son directed the boats to cast off from each other, 
give a huzza, and push for tlie shore. But the 
Spaniards were excellently well prepared : the alarm- 
bells answered the huzza, and a fire of thirty or forty 
pieces of cannon, with musketry from one end of the 
town to the other, opened upon the invaders. No- 
thing, however, could check the intrepidity with which 
they advanced. The night was exceedingly dark; 
most of the boats missed the mole, and went on shore 
through a raging surf, which stove all to the left of 
it. The Admiral, Freemantle, Thompson, Bowen, 
and four or five other boats, found the mole : they 
stormed it instantly, and carried it, though it was 
defended, as they imagined, by four or five hundred 
men. Its guns, which were six-and-twenty pounders, 
were spiked ; but such a heavy fire of musketry and 
grape was kept up from the citadel, and the houses 
at the head of the mole, that the assailants could not 
advance, and nearly all of them were killed or 
wounded. 

In the act of stepping out of the boat, Nelson re- 
ceived a shot through the right elbow, and fell ; but, 
as he fell, he caught the sword, which he had just 
drawn, in his left hand, determined never to part with 
it while he lived, for it had belonged to his uncle, 
Captain Suckling, and he valued it like a relic. Nisbet, 
who was close to him, placed him at the bottom of 
the boat, and laid his hat over the shattered arm, 
lest the sight of the blood, which g^hed out in great 
abundance, should increase his faintness. He then 
examined the wound, and taking some silk handker- 
chiefs from his neck, bound them round tight above 



96 Robert Southey's 

the lacerated vessels. Had it not been for this pre- 
sence of mind in his step-son, Nelson must have 
perished. One of his bargemen, by name Lovel, tore 
his shirt into shreds, and made a sling with them 
for the broken limb. They then collected five other 
seamen, by whose assistance they succeeded at length 
in getting the boat afloat; for it had grounded with 
the falling tide. Nisbet took one of the oars, and 
ordered the steersman to go close under the guns of 
the battery, that they might be safe from its tremen- 
dous fire. Hearing his voice Nelson roused himself, 
and desired to be lifted up in the boat, that he might 
look about him. Nisbet raised him up; but nothing 
could be seen except the firing of the guns on shore, 
and what could be discerned by their flashes upon the 
stormy sea. In a few minutes a general shriek was 
heard from the crew of the Fox, which had received a 
shot under water, and went down. Ninety-seven men 
were lost in her; eighty-three were saved, many by 
Nelson himself, whose exertions on this occasion 
greatly increased the pain and danger of his wound. 
The first ship which the boat could reach happened to 
be the Seahorse ; but nothing could induce him to go 
on board, though he was assured that if they at- 
tempted to row to another ship it might be at the risk 
of his life. ** I had rather suffer death," he replied, 
** than alarm Mrs. Freemantle, by letting her see me 
in this state, when I can give her no tidings whatever 
of her husband." They pushed on for the Theseus. 
When they came alongside, he peremptorily refused 
all assistance in getting on board, so impatient was he 
that the boat should return, in hopes that it might 
save a few more from the Fox. He desired to have 
only a single rope thrown over the side, which he 
twisted round his left hand, saying, ** Let me alone : 
I have yet my legs left, and one arm. Tell the 
surgeon to make haste, and get his instruments. 
I know I must lose my right arm; so the sooner 
it is off the better." The spirit which he dis- 



Life of Nelson 97 

played in jumping up the ship's side astonished 
everybody. 

Freemantle had been severely wounded in the right 
arm, soon after the admiral. He was fortunate 
enough to find a boat at the beach, and got instantly 
to his ship. Thompson was wounded; Bowen killed, 
to the great regret of Nelson ; as was also one of his 
own officers, Lieutenant Weatherhead, who had fol- 
lowed him from the Agamemnon; and whom he 
greatly and deservedly esteemed. Trowbridge, mean- 
time, fortunately for his party, missed the mole in the 
darkness, but pushed on shore under the batteries, 
close to the south end of the citadel. Captain Waller, 
of the Emerald y and two or three other boats, landed 
at the same time. The surf was so high that many 
others put back. The boats were instantly filled with 
water, and stove against the rocks; and most of the 
ammunition in the men's pouches was wetted. Hav- 
ing collected a few men, they pushed on to the great 
square, hoping there to find the admiral and the rest 
of the force. The ladders were all lost, so that they 
could make no immediate attempt on the citadel ; but 
they sent a sergeant, with two of the town's people, 
to summon it ; this messenger never returned ; and 
Trowbridge having waited about an hour, in painful 
expectation of his friends, marched to join Captains 
Hood and Miller, who had effected their landing to 
the south-west. They then endeavoured to procure 
some intelligence of the admiral and the rest of the 
officers, but without success. By daybreak they had 
gathered together about 80 marines, 80 pikemen, and 
180 small-arm seamen; all the survivors of those who 
had made good their landing. They obtained some 
ammunition from the prisoners whom they had taken, 
and marched on, to try what could be done at the 
citadel without ladders. They found all the streets 
commanded by field-pieces, and several thousand 
Spaniards, with about a hundred French, under arms, 
approaching by every avenue. Finding himself with- 

H 



98 Robert Southey s 

out provisions, their powder wet, and no possibility 
of obtaining- either stores or reinforcements from the 
ships, tiie boats being lost, Trowbridge, with great 
presence of mind, sent Captain Samuel Hood with a 
flag of truce to the governor, to say he was prepared 
to burn the town, and would instantly set fire to it 
if the Spaniards approached one inch nearer. This, 
however, if he were compelled to do it, he should 
do with regret, for he had no wish to injure the 
inhabitants; and he was ready to treat upon these 
terms, — that the British troops should re-embark, 
with ail their arms of every kind, and take their own 
boats, if they were saved, or be provided with such 
others as might be wanting : they, on their part, 
engaging that the squadron should not molest the 
town, nor any of the Canary Islands ; all prisoners 
on both sides to be given up. When these terms 
were proposed, the governor made answer that the 
English ought to surrender as prisoners of war; but 
Captain Hood replied, he was instructed to say that 
if the terms were not accepted in five minutes. Captain 
Trowbridge would set the town on fire, and attack 
the Spaniards at the point of the bayonet. Satisfied 
with his success, which was indeed sufficiently com- 
plete, and respecting, like a brave and honourable 
man, the gallantry of his enemy, the Spaniard acceded 
to the proposal. ** And here," says Nelson in his 
journal, ** it is right we should notice the noble and 
generous conduct of Don Juan Antonio Gutierrez, the 
Spanish governor. The moment the terms were 
agreed to, he directed our wounded men to be received 
into the hospitals, and all our people to be supplied 
with the best provisions that could be procured ; and 
made it known that the ships were at liberty to send 
on shore, and purchase whatever refreshments they 
were in want of, during the time they might be off the 
island." A youth, by name Don Bernardo Collagon, 
stripped himself of his shirt to make bandages for one 
of those Englishmen against whom, not an hour 



Life of Nelson 99 

before, he had been engaged in battle. Nelson wrote 
to thank the governor for the humanity which he had 
displayed. Presents were interchanged between 
them. Sir Horatio offered to take charge of his 
despatches for the Spanish Government; and thus 
actually became the first messenger to Spain of his 
own defeat. 

The total loss of the English, in killed, wounded, 
and drowned, amounted to 250. Nelson made no men- 
tion of his own wound in his ofi&cial despatches : but 
in a private letter to Lord St. Vincent — the first which 
he wrote with his left hand — he shows himself to have 
been deeply affected by the failure of this enterprise. 
** i am become,'* he said, *' a burthen to my friends, 
and useless to my country : but by my last letter you 
will perceive my anxiety for the promotion of my 
son-in-law, Josiah Nisbet. When I leave your com- 
mand, I become dead to the world : — * I go hence, 
and am no more seen.' If from poor Bo wen's loss 
you think it proper to oblige me, I rest confident 
you will do it. The boy is under obligations to me; 
but he repaid me by bringing me from the mole of 
Santa Cruz. I hope you will be able to give me a 
frigate, to convey the remains of my carcass to Eng- 
land. " — "A left-handed admiral," he said in a 
subsequent letter, " will never again be considered 
as useful ; therefore the sooner I get to a very humble 
cottage the better; and make room for a sounder 
man to serve the state." His first letter to Lady 
Nelson was written under the same opinion, but in 
a more cheerful strain. ** It was the chance of war," 
said he, "and I have great reason to be thankful: 
and I know it will add much to your pleasure to find 
that Josiah, under God's providence, was principally 
instrumental in saving my life. I shall not be sur- 
prised if I am neglected and forgotten : probably I 
shall no longer be considered as useful; however, I 
shall feel rich if I continue to enjoy your affection. I 
beg neither you nor my father will think much of this 



loo Robert Southey's 

mishap — my mind has long been made up to such an 
event. ' ' 

His step-son, according to his wish, was immedi- 
ately promoted ; and honours enough to heal his 
wounded spirit awaited him in England. Letters were 
addressed to him by the First Lord of the Admiralty, 
and by his steady friend, the Duke of Clarence, to 
congratulate him on his return, covered as he was 
with glory. He assured the Duke, in his reply, that 
not a scrap of that ardour with which he had hitherto 
served his king had been shot away. The freedom of 
the cities of Bristol and London were transmitted to 
him; he was invested with the Order of the Bath, 
and received a pension of ;^i,ooo a year. The 
memorial which, as a matter of form, he was called 
upon to present on this occasion, exhibited an extra- 
ordinary catalogue of services performed during the 
war. It stated that he had been in four actions with 
the fleets of the enemy, and in three actions with 
boats employed in cutting out of harbour, in destroy- 
ing vessels, and in taking three towns : he had served 
on shore with the army four months, and commanded 
the batteries at the sieges of Bastia and Calvi ; he had 
assisted at the capture of seven sail of the line, six 
frigates, four corvettes, and eleven privateers : taken 
and destroyed near fifty sail of merchant vessels; 
and actually been engaged against the enemy upwards 
of an hundred and twenty times ; in which service he 
had lost his right eye and right arm, and been severely 
wounded and bruised in his body. 

His sufferings from the lost limb were long and 
painful. A nerve had been taken up in one of the 
ligatures at the time of the operation; and the liga- 
ture, according to the practice of the French 
surgeons, was of silk, instead of waxed thread ; this 
produced a constant irritation and discharge; and 
the ends of the ligature being pulled every day, in 
hopes of bringing it away, occasioned fresh agony. 
He had scarcely any intermission of pain, day or 



Life of Nelson loi 

night, for three months after his return to England. 
Lady Nelson, at his earnest request, attended the 
dressing his arm till she had acquired sufficient reso- 
lution and skill to dress it herself. One night, during 
this state of suffering, after a day of constant pain, 
Nelson retired early to bed, in hope of enjoying some 
respite by means of laudanum. He was at that time 
lodging in Bond Street; and the family was soon 
disturbed by a mob knocking loudly and violently 
at the door. The news of Duncan's victory had been 
made public, and the house was not illuminated. But 
when the mob were told that Admiral Nelson lay there 
in bed, badly wounded, the foremost of them made 
answer, *' You shall hear no more from us to-night " : 
and, in fact, the feeling of respect and sympathy was 
communicated from one to another with such effect, 
that, under the confusion of such a night, the house 
was not molested again. 

About the end of November, after a night of sound 
sleep, he found the arm nearly free from pain : the 
surgeon was immediately sent for to examine it, and 
the ligature came away with the slightest touch. 
From that time it began to heal. As soon as he 
thought his health established, he sent the following 
form of thanksgiving to the minister of St. George's, 
Hanover Square: — "An officer desires to return 
thanks to Almighty God for his perfect recovery from 
a severe wound, and also for the many mercies 
bestowed on him." 

Not having been in England till now since he lost 
his eye, he went to receive a year's pay, as smart 
money; but could not obtain payment, because he 
had neglected to bring a certificate from a surgeon 
that the sight was actually destroyed. A little irri- 
tated that this form should be insisted upon, because, 
though the fact was not apparent, he thought it was 
sufficiently notorious, he procured a certificate at the 
same time for the loss of his arm, saying, they might 
just as well doubt the one as the other. This put 



I02 Robert Southey's 

him in gfood humour with himself, and with the clerk 
who had offended him. On his return to the office, 
the clerk finding it was only the annual pay of a 
captain, observed, he thought it had been more. 
" Oh ! " replied Nelson, ** this is only for an eye. In 
a few days I shall come for an arm; and in a little 
time longer, God knows, most probably for a leg." 
Accordingly, he soon afterwards went, and with per- 
fect good humour exhibited the certificate of the loss 
of his arm. 



CHAPTER V 

Early in the year 1798 Sir Horatio Nelson hoisted 
his flag in the Vanguard, and was ordered to rejoin 
Earl St. Vincent. Upon his departure his father 
addressed him with that affectionate solemnity by 
which all his letters were distinguished. " I trust in 
the Lord," said he, ** that He will prosper your 
going out and your coming in. I earnestly desired 
once more to see you, and that wish has been heard. 
If I should presume to say, I hope to see you again, 
the question would be readily asked, How old art 
thou? Vale! vale! Domine vale!'* It is said that 
a gloomy foreboding — hung on the spirits of Lady 
Nelson at their parting. This could have arisen only 
from the dread of losing him by the chance of war. 
Any apprehension of losing his affections could hardly 
have existed; for all his correspondence to this time 
shows that he thought himself happy in his marriage ; 
and his private character had hitherto been as spot- 
less as his public conduct. One of the last things 
he said to her was that his own ambition was satisfied, 
but that he went to raise her to that rank in which he 
had long wished to see her. 

Immediately on his rejoining the fleet, he was 
despatched to the Mediterranean, with a small 
squadron, in order to ascertain, if possible, the object 



Life of Nelson 103 

of the great expedition which at that time was fitting 
out, under Buonaparte, at Toulon. The defeat oi 
this armament, whatever might be its destination, 
was deemed by the British Government an object 
paramount to every other; and Earl St. Vincent was 
directed, if he thought it necessary, to take his whole 
force into the Mediterranean, to relinquish, for that 
purpose, the blockade of the Spanish fleet, as a thing 
of inferior moment : but, if he should deem a detach- 
ment sufficient, ** I think it almost unnecessary," 
said the First Lord of the Admiralty, in his secret 
instructions, " to suggest to you the propriety of 
putting it under Sir Horatio Nelson." It is to the 
honour of Earl St. Vincent that he had already made 
the same choice. The British Government at this 
time, with a becoming spirit, gave orders that any 
port in the Mediterranean should be considered as 
hostile, where the governor, or chief magistrate, 
should refuse to let our ships of war procure supplies 
of provisions, or of any article which they might 
require. 

The armament at Toulon consisted of 13 ships 
of the line, 7 forty-gun frigates, with 24 smaller 
vessels of war, and nearly 200 transports. Mr. Udney, 
our consul at Leghorn, was the first person who 
procured certain intelligence of the enemy's desigfn 
against Malta; and, from his own sag-acity, foresaw 
that Egypt must be their after object. Nelson sailed 
from Gibraltar on the 9th of May, with the Vanguard^ 
Orion, and Alexander, 74s ; the Caroline, Flora, 
Emerald, and Terpsichore frigates; and the Borme 
Citoyenne sloop of war; to watch this formidable 
armament. On the 19th, when they were in the Gulf of 
Lyons, a gale came on from the N.W. It moderated 
so much on the 20th as to enable them to get their 
top-gallant masts and yards aloft. After dark it 
again began to blow strong, but the ships had been 
prepared for a gale, and therefore Nelson's mind was 
easy. Shortly before midnight, however, his main- 



I04 Robert Southeys 

topmast went over the side, and the mizen-topmast 
soon afterward. The night was so tempestuous that 
it was impossible for any signal either to be seen or 
heard, and Nelson determined, as soon as it should 
be daybreak, to wear, and scud before the gale; but 
at half-past three the foremast went in three pieces, 
and the bowsprit was found to be sprung in three 
places. When day broke, they succeeded in wearing 
the ship with a remnant of the spritsail : this was 
hardly to have been expected : the Vans^uard was at 
that time twenty-five leagues south of the islands of 
Hieres, with her head lying to the N.E. ; and if she 
had not wore, the ship must have drifted to Corsica. 
Captain Ball, in the Alexander y took her in tow, to 
carry her into the Sardinian harbour of St. Pietro. 
Nelson, apprehensive that this attempt might 
endanger both vessels, ordered him to cast off; but 
that excellent officer, with a spirit like his comman- 
der's, replied, he was confident he could save the 
Vanguardy and, by God's help, he would do it. There 
had been a previous coolness between these great 
men ; but from this time Nelson became fully sensible 
of the extraordinary talents of Captain Ball, and a 
sincere friendship subsisted between them during the 
remainder of their lives. '* I ought not," said the 
admiral, writing to his wife, — " I ought not to call 
what has happened to the Vanguard by the cold name 
of accident : I believe firmly it was the Almighty's 
goodness, to check my consummate vanity. I hope 
it has made me a better officer, as I feel confident 
it has made me a better man. Figure to yourself, 
on Sunday evening, at sunset, a vain man walking 
in his cabin, with a squadron around him, who looked 
up to their chief to lead them to glory, and in whom 
their chief placed the firmest reliance that the proudest 
ships of equal numbers belonging to France would 
have lowered their flags ; figure to yourself, on Mon- 
day morning, when the sun rose, this proud man, his 
ship dismasted, his fleet dispersed, and himself in such 



Life of Nelson 105 

distress that the meanest frigate out of France would 
have been an unwelcome guest." Nelson had, in- 
deed, more reason to refuse the cold name of accident 
to this tempest than he was then aware of; for on 
that very day the French fleet sailed from Toulon, 
and must have passed within a few leagues of his 
little squadron, which was thus preserved by the 
thick weather that came on. 

In the orders of the British Government to consider 
all ports as hostile v.^here the British ships should 
be refused supplies, the ports of Sardinia were ex- 
cepted. The continental possessions of the King of 
Sardinia were at this time completely at the mercy of 
the French, and that prince was now discovering, 
when too late, that the terms to which he had con- 
sented, for the purpose of escaping immediate danger, 
necessarily involved, at last, the loss of the dominions 
which they were intended to preserve. The citadel 
of Turin was now occupied by French troops ; and 
his wretched court feared to afford the common rights 
of humanity to British ships, lest it should give the 
French occasion to seize on the remainder of his 
dominions — a measure for which, it was certain, they 
would soon make a pretext, if they did not find one. 
Nelson was informed that he could not be permitted 
to enter the port of St. Pietro. Regardless of this 
interdict, which, under his circumstances, it would 
have been an act of suicidal folly to have regarded, 
he anchored in the harbour; and by the exertions of 
Sir James Saumarez, Captain Ball, and Captain 
Berry, the Vanguard was refitted in four days ; 
months would have been employed in refitting her in 
England. Nelson, with that proper sense of merit 
wherever it was found, which proved at once the 
goodness and the greatness of his character, especially 
recommended to Earl St. Vincent the carpenter of 
the AlexandeTy under whose directions the ship had 
been repaired, stating that he was an old and faithful 
servant of the crown, who had been nearly thirty 



io6 Robert Southey's 

years a warranted carpenter, and begging most 
earnestly that the commander-in-chief would recom- 
mend him to the particular notice of the Board of 
Admiralty. He did not leave the harbour without 
expressing his sense of the treatment which he had 
received there, in a letter to the Viceroy of Sardinia. 
** Sir," it said, *' having, by a gale of wind, sustained 
some trifling damages, I anchored a small part of 
His Majesty's fleet under my orders off this island, 
and was surprised to hear, by an officer sent by the 
governor, that admittance was to be refused to the 
flag of His Britannic Majesty into this port. When 
I reflect that my most gracious Sovereign is the 
oldest, I believe, and certainly the most faithful ally, 
which the King of Sardinia ever had, I could feel the 
sorrow which it must have been to His Majesty to 
have given such an order; and also for your Excel- 
lency, who had to direct its execution. I cannot but 
look at the African shore, where the followers of 
Mahomet are performing the part of the good Samari- 
tan, which I look for in vain at St. Peter's, where 
it is said the Christian religion is professed." 

The delay which was thus occasioned was useful 
to him in many respects: it enabled him to complete 
his supply of water, and to receive a reinforcement, 
which Earl St. Vincent, being himself reinforced 
from England, was enabled to send him. It consisted 
of the best ships of his fleet — the Culloden, 74, Cap- 
tain T. Trowbridge; Goliath^ 74, Captain T. Foley; 
Minotaur^ 74, Captain T. houis; Defence y 74, Captain 
John Peyton; BeUerophoriy 74, Captain H. D. E. 
Darby; Majestic^ 74, Captain G. B. Westcott; 
Zealous y 74, Captain S. Hood ; SwiftsurCy 74, Captain 
B. Hallowell; Theseus y 74, Captain R. W. Miller; 
AudaciouSy 74, Captain Davidge Gould. The Leandety 
50, Captain T. B. Thompson, was afterwards added. 
These ships were made ready for the service as soon 
as Earl St. Vincent received advice from England 
that he was to be reinforced. As soon as the rein- 



Life of Nelson 107 

forcement was seen from the mast-head of the 
admiral's ship, off Cadiz Bay, signal was immediately 
made to Captain Trowbridge to put to sea; and he 
was out of sight before the ships from home cast 
anchor in the British station. Trowbridge took with 
him no instructions to Nelson as to the course he was 
to steer, nor any certain account of the enemy's 
destination : everything was left to his own judg- 
ment. Unfortunately, the frigates had been separated 
from him in the tempest, and had not been able to 
rejoin : they sought him unsuccessfully in the Bay 
of Naples, where they obtained no tidings of his 
course; and he sailed without them. 

The first news of the enemy's armament was, that 
it had surprised Malta. Nelson formed a plan for 
attacking it while at anchor at Gozo; but on the 
22nd of Tune intelligence reached him that the French 
had left that island on the i6th, the day after their 
arrival. It was clear that their destination was 
eastward — he thought for Egypt, — and for Egypt, 
therefore, he made all sail. Had the frigates been 
with him he could scarcely have failed to gain infor- 
mation of the enemy : for want of them, he only 
spoke three vessels on the way ; two came from Alex- 
andria, one from the Archipelago ; and neither of them 
had seen anything of the French. He arrived off 
Alexandria on the 28th, and the enemy were not 
there, neither was there any account of them; but 
the governor was endeavouring to put the city in a 
state of defence, having received advice from Leghorn 
that the French expedition was intended against 
Egypt, after it had taken Malta. Nelson then shaped 
his course to the northward for Caramania, and 
steered from thence along the southern side of Candia, 
carrying a press of sail both night and day, with a con- 
trary wind. It would have been his delight, he said, 
to have tried Buonaparte on a wind. It would have 
been the delight of Europe too, and the blessing of 
the world, if that fleet had been overtaken with its 



io8 Robert Southey's 

general on board. But of the myriads and millions 
of human beings who would have been preserved by 
that day's victory, there is not one to whom such 
essential benefit would have resulted as to Buonaparte 
himself. It would have spared him his defeat at Acre 
— his only disgrace; for to have been defeated by 
Nelson upon the seas would not have been disgrace- 
ful : it would have spared him all his after enormities. 
Hitherto his career had been glorious; the baneful 
principles of his heart had never yet passed his lips ; 
history would have represented him as a soldier of 
fortune, who had faithfully served the cause in which 
he engaged ; and whose career had been distinguished 
by a series of successes unexampled in modern times. 
A romantic obscurity would have hung over the ex- 
pedition to Egypt, and he would have escaped the 
perpetration of those crimes which have incarnadined 
his soul with a deeper dye than that of the purple 
for which he committed them ; — those acts of perfidy, 
midnight murder, usurpation, and remorseless 
tyranny, which have consigned his name to universal 
execration, now and for ever. 

Conceiving that when an officer is not successful 
in his plans it is absolutely necessary that he should 
explain the motives upon which they were founded, 
Nelson wrote at this time an account and vindication 
of his conduct for having carried the fleet to Egypt. 
The objection which he anticipated was, that he ought 
not to have made so long a voyage without more 
certain information. " My answer," said he, '* is 
ready — Who was I to get it from ? The Governments 
of Naples and Sicily either knew not, or chose to keep 
me in ignorance. Was I to wait patiently until I 
heard certain accounts? If Egypt were their object, 
before I could hear of them they would have been in 
India. To do nothing was disgraceful; therefore I 
made use of my understanding. I am before your 
lordships' judgment; and if , under all circumstances, 
it is decided that I am wrong, I ought, for the sake 



Life of Nelson 109 

of our country, to be superseded ; for at this moment, 
when 1 know the French are not in Alexandria, I hold 
the same opinion as off Cape Passaro, — that, under 
all circumstances, I was right in steering for Alex- 
andria : and by that opinion I must stand or fall." 
Captain Ball, to whom he showed this paper, told 
him he should recommend a friend never to begin a 
defence of his conduct before he was accused of 
error : he might give the fullest reasons for what he 
had done, expressed in such terms as would evince 
that he had acted from the strongest conviction of 
being right; and of course he must expect that the 
public would view it in the same light. Captain Ball 
judged rightly of the public, whose first impulses, 
though from want of sufficient information they must 
frequently be erroneous, are generally founded upon 
just feelinofs. But the public are easily misled, and 
there are always persons ready to mislead them. 
Nelson had not yet attained that fame which compels 
envy to be silent ; and when it was known in England 
that he had returned after an unsuccessful pursuit, 
it was said that he deserved impeachment; and Earl 
St. Vincent was severely censured for having sent 
so young an officer upon so important a service. 

Baffled in his pursuit, he returned to Sicily. The 
Neapolitan ministry had determined to give his 
squadron no assistance, being resolved to do nothing 
vv'hich could possibly endanger their peace with the 
French Directory. By means, however, of Lady 
Hamilton's influence at court, he procured secret 
orders to the Sicilian governors ; and, under those 
orders, obtained everything which he wanted at 
Syracuse — a timely supply, without which, he always 
said, he could not have recommenced his pursuit with 
any hope of success. ** It is an old saying," said he 
in his letter, ''that 'the devil's children have the 
devil's luck.' I cannot to this moment learn, beyond 
vague conjecture, where the French fleet are gone to ; 
and having gone a round of six hundred leagues at 



no Robert Southey's 

this season of the year, with an expedition incredible, 
here I am, as ignorant of the situation of the enemy 
as I was twenty-seven days ago. Every moment I 
have to regret the frigates having left me; had one- 
half of them been with me, I could not have wanted 
information. Should the French be so strongly 
secured in port that I cannot get at them, I shall 
immediately shift my flag into some other ship, and 
send the Vanguard to Naples to be refitted, for hardly 
any person but myself would have continued on service 
so long in such a wretched state." Vexed, however, 
and disappointed as he was, Nelson, with the true 
spirit of a hero, was still full of hope. " Thanks to 
your exertions," said he, writing to Sir W. and Lady 
Hamilton, "we have victualled and watered; and 
surely watering at the fountain of Arethusa, we 
must have victory. We shall sail with the first 
breeze; and be assured I will return either crowned 
with laurel or covered with cypress." Earl St. 
Vincent he assured, that if the French were above 
water he would find them out — he still held his 
opinion that they were bound for Egypt; ** but," said 
he to the First Lord of the Admiralty, ** be they 
bound to the Antipodes, your lordship may rely that 
I will not lose a moment in bringing them to action." 
On the 25th of July he sailed from Syracuse for 
the Morea. Anxious beyond measure, and irritated 
that the enemy should so long have eluded him, the 
tediousness of the nights made him impatient; and 
the officer of the watch was repeatedly called on to let 
him know the hour, and convince him, who measured 
time by his own eagerness, that it was not yet day- 
break. The squadron made the Gulf of Coron on 
the 28th. Trowbridge entered the port, and returned 
with intelligence that the French had been seen about 
four weeks before steering to the S.E., from Candia. 
Nelson then determined immediately to return to 
Alexandria; and the British fleet accordingly, with 
every sail set, stood once more for the coast of 



Life of Nelson iii 

Eg-ypt. On the ist of August they came in sight of 
Alexandria; and at four in the afternoon, Captain 
Hood, in the Zealous ^ made the signal for the French 
fleet. For many preceding days Nelson had hardly 
taken cither sleep or food ; he now ordered his dinner 
to be served, while preparations were making for 
battle; and when his officers rose from the table, and 
went to their separate stations, he said to them : 
" Before this time to-morrow I shall have gained a 
peerage, or Westminster Abbey." 

The French, steering direct for Candia, had made 
an angular passage for Alexandria; whereas Nelson, 
in pursuit of them, made straight for that place, and 
thus materially shortened the distance. The com- 
parative smallness of his force made it necessary to 
sail in close order, and it covered a less space than it 
would have done if the frigates had been with him : 
the weather also was constantly hazy. These cir- 
cumstances prevented the English from falling in 
with the enemy on the way to Egypt, and during the 
return to Syracuse there was still less probability of 
discovering them. 

Why Buonaparte, having effected his landing, 
should not have suffered the fleet to return, has 
never yet been explained. Thus much is certain, that 
it was detained by his command ; though, with his 
accustomed falsehood, he accused Admiral Brueys, 
after that officer's death, of having lingered on the 
coast, contrary to orders. The French fleet arrived 
at Alexandria on the ist of July; and Brueys, not 
being able to enter the port, which time and neglect 
had ruined, moored his ships in Aboukir Bay, in a 
strong and compact line of battle; the headmost 
vessel, according to his own account, being as close 
as possible to a shoal on the N.W., and the rest of 
the fleet forming a kind of curve along the line of 
deep water, so as not to be turned by any means in 
the S.W. By Buonaparte's desire he had offered a 
reward of 10,000 livres to any pilot of the country 



112 Robert Southey's 

who would carry the squadron in; but none could be 
found who would venture to take charge of a single 
vessel drawing more than twenty feet. He had 
therefore made the best of his situation, and chosen 
the strongest position which he could possibly take 
in an open road. The commissary of the fleet said 
they were moored in such a manner as to bid defiance 
to a force more than double their own. This pre- 
sumption could not then be thought unreasonable. 
Admiral Harrington, when moored in a similar 
manner oif St. Lucia, in the year 1778, beat off the 
Comte d'Estaign in three several attacks, though his 
force was inferior by almost one-third to that which 
assailed it. Here, the advantage of numbers, both in 
ships, guns, and men, was in favour of the French. 
They had thirteen ships of the line and four frigates, 
carrying 1,196 guns and 11,230 men. The English 
had the same number of ships of the line, and one 
50-gun ship, carrying 1,012 guns and 8,068 men. 
The English ships were all 74s : the French had three 
80 gun ships, and one three-decker of 120. 

During the whole pursuit, it had been Nelson's 
practice, whenever circumstances would permit, to 
have his captains on board the Vanguard^ and ex- 
plain to them his own ideas of the different and best 
modes of attack, and such plans as he proposed to 
execute on falling in with the enemy, whatever their 
situation might be. There is no possible position, 
it is said, which he did not take into calculation. 
His officers were thus fully acquainted with his prin- 
ciples of tactics : and such was his confidence in their 
abilities, that the only thing determined upon, in case 
they should find the French at anchor, was for the 
ships to form as most convenient for their mutual 
support, and to anchor by the stern. ** First gain 
the victory,'* he said, ** and then make the best use 
of it you can.'* The moment he perceived the posi- 
tion of the French, that intuitive genius with which 
Nelson was endowed displayed itself; and it in- 



Life of Nelson 113 

stantly struck him, that where there was room for an 
enemy's ship to swing, there was room for one of 
ours to anchor. The plan which he intended to pur- 
sue, therefore, was to keep entirely on the outer side 
of the French line, and station his ships, as far as he 
was able, one on the outer bow, and another on the 
outer quarter, of each of the enemy's. This plan of 
doubling on the enemy's ships was projected by Lord 
Hood, when he designed to attack the French fleet at 
their anchorage in Gourjean Road. Lord Hood 
found it impossible to make the attempt; but the 
thought was not lost upon Nelson, who acknow- 
ledged himself on this occasion indebted for it to his 
old and excellent commander. Captain Berry, when 
he comprehended the scope of the design, exclaimed 
with transport, "If we succeed, what will the world 
say?" ** There is no if in the case," replied the 
admiral : ** that we shall succeed is certain : who may 
live to tell the story is a very different question." 

As the squadron advanced, the enemy opened a 
steady fire from the starboard side of their whole line, 
full into the bows of our van ships. It was received 
in silence : the men on board of every ship were em- 
ployed aloft in furling sails, and below in tending the 
braces, and making ready for anchoring. A miser- 
able sight for the French; who with all their skill, 
and all their courage, and all their advantages of 
numbers and situation, were upon that element, on 
which, when the hour of trial comes, a Frenchman 
has no hope. Admiral Brueys was a brave and able 
man ; yet the indelible character of his country broke 
out in one of his letters, wherein he delivered it as his 
private opinion that the English had missed him, 
because, not being superior in force, they did not 
think it prudent to try their strength with him. The 
moment was now come in which he was to be un- 
deceived. 

A French brig was instructed to decoy the English, 
by manoeuvring so as to tempt them toward a shoal 

I 



114 Robert Southeys 

lying off the island of Bequieres ; but Nelson either 
knew the danger, or suspected some deceit, and 
the lure was unsuccessful. Captain Foley led the 
way in the Goliathy outsailing the Zealous, which for 
some minutes disputed this post of honour with him. 
He had long conceived, that if the enemy were 
moored in line of battle in with the land, the best 
plan of attack would be to lead between them and the 
shore, because the French guns on that side were not 
likely to be manned, nor even ready for action. In- 
tending, therefore to fix himself on the inner bow of 
the Guerrier, he kept as near the edge of the bank as 
the depth of water would admit ; but his anchor hung, 
and having opened his fire, he drifted to the second 
ship, the Conquirant, before it was clear; then 
anchored by the stern, inside of her, and in ten 
minutes shot away her masts. Hood, in the Zealous ^ 
perceiving this, took the station which the Goliath 
intended to have occupied, and he totally disabled 
the Guerrier in twelve minutes. The third ship which 
doubled the enemy's van was the Orioriy Sir J. 
Saumarez; she passed to windward of the Zealous, 
and opened her larboard guns as long as they bore 
on the Guerrier; then passing inside the Goliath, 
sunk a frigate which annoyed her, hauled round 
toward the French line, and anchoring inside, 
between the fifth and sixth ships from the Guerrier, 
took her station on the larboard bow of the Franklin ^ 
and the quarter of the Peuple Souverain, receiving 
and returning the fire of both. The sun was now 
nearly down. The Audacious, Captain Gould, pour- 
ing a heavy fire into the Guerrier and the Conquer ant, 
fixed herself on the larboard bow of the latter; and 
when that ship struck, passed on to the Peuple 
Souverain. The Theseus, Captain Miller, followed, 
brought down the Guerrier's remaining main and 
mizen masts, then anchored inside of the Spartiate, 
the third in the French line. 

While these advanced ships doubled the French 



Life of Nelson 115 

line, the Vanguard was the first that anchored on the 
outer side of the enemy, within half-pistol-shot of 
their third ship, the Spartiate. Nelson had six 
colours flying in different parts of his rigging, lest 
they should be shot away; — that they should be 
struck, no British admiral considers as a possibility. 
He veered half a cable, and instantly opened a tre- 
mendous fire; under cover of which the other four 
ships of his division, the Minotauty Belter ophoriy 
Defencey and Majesticy sailed on ahead of the 
admiral. In a few minutes every man stationed at 
the first six guns in the fore part of the Vanguard*s 
deck was killed or wounded : — these guns were three 
times cleared. Captain Louis, in the Minotaur y 
anchored next ahead, and took off the fire of the 
Aquiloriy the fourth in the enemy's line. The Bellero- 
phoriy Captain Darby, passed ahead,, and dropped 
her stern anchor on the starboard bow of the Orient, 
seventh in the line, Brueys' own ship, of 120 guns, 
whose difference of force was in proportion of more 
than seven to three, and whose weight of ball, from 
the lower deck alone, exceeded that from the whole 
broadside of the Bellerophon. Captain Peyton, in the 
Defencey took his station ahead of the Minotaur , and 
engaged the Frankliny the sixth in the line, by which 
judicious movement the British line remained un- 
broken. The MajestiCy Captain Westcott, got en- 
tangled with the main rigging of one of the French 
ships astern of the Orienty and suffered dreadfully from 
that three-decker's fire : but she swung clear, and 
closely engaging the HeureuXy the ninth ship on the 
starboard bow, received also the fire of the Tonnant, 
which was the eighth in the line. The other four 
ships of the British squadron, having been detached 
previous to the discovery of the French, were at a 
considerable distance when the action began. It com- 
menced at half after six; about seven, night closed, 
and there was no other light than that from the fire 
of the contending fleets. 



ii6 Robert Southey*s 

Trowbridge, in the Culloden, the foremost of the 
remaining ships, was two leagues astern. He came 
on sounding, as the others had done; as he advanced, 
the increasing darkness increased the difficulty of the 
navigation ; and suddenly, after having found eleven 
fathoms' water, before the lead could be hove again, 
he was fast aground ; nor could all his own exertions, 
joined to those of the Leander and the Mutin6 brig, 
which came to his assistance, get him off in time to 
bear a part in the action. His ship, however, served 
as a beacon to the Alexander and SwiftsurCy which 
would else, from the course which they were holding, 
have gone considerably farther on the reef, and must 
inevitably have been lost. These ships entered the 
bay, and took their stations, in the darkness, in a 
manner still spoken of with admiration by all who 
remember it. Captain Hallowell, in the Swiftsure, 
as he was bearing down, fell in with what seemed to 
be a strange sail ; Nelson had directed his ships to 
hoist four lights horizontally at the mizen-peak, as 
soon as it became dark; and this vessel had no such 
distinction. Hallowell, however, with great judg- 
ment, ordered his men not to fire ; if she was an 
enemy, he said, she was in too disabled a state to 
escape ; but, from her sails being loose, and the way 
in which her head was, it was probable she might be 
an English ship. It was the Belter ophoUy overpowered 
by the huge Orient \ her lights had gone overboard, 
nearly 200 of her crew were killed or wounded, all her 
masts and cables had been shot away, and she was 
drifting out of the line, toward the lee side of the bay. 
Her station, at this important time, was occupied by 
the Swiftsure y v/hich opened a steady fire on the 
quarter of the Franklin and the bows of the French 
admiral. At the same instant, Captain Ball, with the 
Alexander, passed under his stern, and anchored 
within side on his larboard quarter, raking him, and 
keeping up a severe fire of musketry upon his decks. 
The last ship which arrived to complete the destruc- 



Life of Nelson 117 

tion of the enemy was the Leander. Captain Thomp- 
son, finding that nothing could be done that night to 
get off the CullodeUy advanced with the intention 
of anchoring athwart hawse of the Orient. The 
Franklin was so near her ahead, that there was not 
room for him to pass clear of the two; he therefore 
took his station athwart hawse of the latter, in such 
a position as to rake both. 

The two first ships of the French line had been 
dismasted within a quarter of an hour after the com- 
mencement of the action; and the others had in that 
time suffered so severely that victory was already 
certain. The third, fourth, and fifth were taken 
possession of at half-past eight. Meantime, Nelson 
received a severe wound on the head from a piece of 
langridge shot. Captain Berry caught him in his 
arms as he was falling. The great effusion of blood 
occasioned an apprehension that the wound was 
mortal ; Nelson himself thought so ; a large flap of the 
skin of the forehead, cut from the bone, had fallen 
over one eye, and the other being blind, he was in 
total darkness. When he was carried down, the 
surgeon — in the midst of a scene scarcely to be con- 
ceived by those who have never seen a cock-pit in 
time of action, and the heroism which Is displayed 
amid its horrors, — with a natural and pardonable 
eagerness, quitted the poor fellow then under his 
hands, that he might instantly attend the admiral. 
*' No!" said Nelson, " I will take my turn with my 
brave fellows.*' Nor would he suffer his own wound 
to be examined till every man who had been pre- 
viously wounded was properly attended to. Fully 
believing that the wound was mortal, and that he was 
about to die, as he had ever desired, in battle and in 
victory, he called the chaplain, and desired him to 
deliver what he supposed to be his dying remembrance 
to Lady Nelson; he then sent for Captain Louis on 
board from the Minotaur^ that he might thank him 
personally for the great assistance which he had 



ii8 Robert Southey*s 

rendered to the Vanguard ; and, ever mindful of those 
who deserved to be his friends, appointed Captain 
Hardy from the brig to the command of his own ship. 
Captain Berry having to go home with the news of 
the victory. When the surgeon came in due time to 
examine his wound (for it was in vain to entreat him 
to let it be examined sooner), the most anxious 
silence prevailed; and the joy of the wounded men, 
and of the whole crew, when they heard that the hurt 
was merely superficial, gave Nelson deeper pleasure 
than the unexpected assurance that his life was in no 
danger. The surgeon requested, and, as far as he 
could, ordered him to remain quiet, but Nelson could 
not rest. He called for his secretary, Mr. Campbell, 
to write the despatches. Campbell had himself been 
wounded, and was so affected at the blind and 
suffering state of the admiral, that he was unable to 
write. The chaplain was then sent for; but before 
he came, Nelson, with his characteristic eagerness, 
took the pen, and contrived to trace a few words, 
marking his devout sense of the success which had 
already been obtained. He was now left alone ; when 
suddenly a cry was heard on the deck, that the Orient 
was on fire. In the confusion he found his way up, 
unassisted and unnoticed ; and, to the astonishment of 
every one, appeared on the quarter-deck, where he 
immediately gave order that boats should be sent to 
the relief of the enemy. 

It was soon after nine that the fire on board the 
Orient broke out. Brueys was dead : he had received 
three wounds, yet would not leave his post : a fourth 
cut him almost in two. He desired not to be carried 
below, but to be left to die upon deck. The flames 
soon mastered his ship. Her sides had just been 
painted, and the oil-jars and paint-buckets were lying 
on the poop. By the prodigious light of this con- 
flagration, the situation of the two fleets could now 
be perceived, the colours of both being clearly dis- 
tinguishable. About ten o'clock 'the ship blew up. 



Life of Nelson 119 

This tremendous explosion was followed by a silence 
not less awful : the firing immediately ceased on both 
sides ; and the first sound which broke the silence was 
the dash of her shattered masts and yards falling into 
the water from the vast height to which they had been 
exploded. It is upon record that a battle between 
two armies was once broken off by an earthquake : — 
such an event would be felt like a miracle; but no 
incident in war, produced by human means, has ever 
equalled the sublimity of this co-instantaneous pause, 
and all its circumstances. 

About seventy of the Orient's crew were saved by 
the English boats. Among the many hundreds who 
perished were the commodore, Casa-Bianca, and his 
son, a brave boy only ten years old. They were seen 
floating on the wreck of a mast when the ship blew 
up. She had money on board to the amount of 
;^6oo,ooo sterling. A port fire from her fell into the 
main-royal of the Alexander-, the fire which it occa- 
sioned was speedily extinguished. Captain Ball had 
provided, as far as human foresight could provide, 
against any such danger. All the shrouds and sails 
of his ship which were not absolutely necessary for 
its immediate management were thoroughly wetted, 
and so rolled up, that they were as hard and as little 
inflammable as so many solid cylinders. 

The firing recommenced with the ships to leeward 
of the centre, and continued till about three. At day- 
faijeak the Guillaume Tell and the Genereux, the two 
re^r ships of the enemy, were the only French 
ships of the line which had their colours flying : 
they cut their cables in the forenoon, not having been 
engaged, and stood out to sea, and two frigates with 
them. The Zealous pursued; but as there was no 
other ship in a condition to support Captain Hood, he 
was recalled. It was generally believed by the 
officers, that if Nelson had not been wounded, not one 
of these ships could have escaped : the four certainly 
could not, if the Culloden had got into action : and if 



I20 Robert Southey's 

the frigates belonging to the squadron *had been 
present, not one of the enemy's fleet would have left 
Aboukir Bay. These four vessels, however, were all 
that escaped; and the victory was the most complete 
and glorious in the annals of naval history. *' Vic- 
tory," said Nelson, ** is not a name strong enough 
for such a scene"; he called it a conquest. Of 
thirteen sail of the line, nine were taken and two 
burnt : of the four frigates, one burnt, another sunk. 
The British loss in killed and wounded amounted to 
895. Westcott was the only captain who fell. 3,105 
of the French, including the wounded, were sent on 
shore by cartel : and 5,225 perished. 

As soon as the conquest was completed. Nelson 
sent orders through the fleet, to return thanksgiving 
in every ship for the victory with which Almighty God 
had blessed His Majesty's arms. The French at 
Rosetta, who with miserable fear beheld the engage- 
ment, were at a loss to understand the stillness of 
the fleet during the performance of this solemn duty ; 
but it seemed to affect many of the prisoners, officers 
as well as men : and graceless and godless as the 
officers were, some of them remarked, that it was no 
wonder such order was preserved in the British navy, 
when the minds of our men could be impressed with 
such sentiments after so great a victory, and at a 
moment of such confusion. The French at Rosetta 
seeing their four ships sail out of the bay unmolested, 
endeavoured to persuade themselves that they were in 
possession of the place of battle. But it was in vain 
thus to attempt, against their own secret and certain 
conviction, to deceive themselves : and even if they 
could have succeeded in this, the bonfires which the 
Arabs kindled along the whole coast, and over the 
country, for three following nights, would soon have 
undeceived them. Thousands of Arabs and Egyptians 
lined the shore, and covered the house-tops during the 
action, rejoicing in the destruction which had over- 
taken their invaders. Long after the battle, innumer- 



Life of Nelson 121 

able bodies were seen floating about the bay, in spite 
of all the exertions which were made to sink them, as 
well from fear of pestilence as from the loathing and 
horror which the sight occasioned. The shore, for 
an extent of four leagues, was covered with wreck; 
and the Arabs found employment for many days in 
burning on the beach the fragments which were cast 
up, for the sake of the iron. Part of the Orient's main- 
mast was picked up by the Swiftswre. Captain 
Hallowell ordered his carpenter to make a coffin of it ; 
the iron as well as wood was taken from the wreck oi 
the same ship : it was finished as well and handsomely 
as the workman's skill and materials would permit; 
and Hallowell then sent it to the admiral with the 
following letter : — *' Sir, I have taken the liberty of 
presenting you a coffin made from the mainmast of 
rOrienty that when you have finished your military 
career in this world you may be buried in one of your 
trophies. But that that period may be far distant, is 
the earnest wish of your sincere friend, Benjamin 
Hallowell." An offering so strange, and yet so 
suited to the occasion, was received by Nelson in the 
spirit with which it was sent. As if he felt it good for 
him, now that he was at the summit of his wishes, to 
have death before his eyes, he ordered the coffin to 
be placed upright in his cabin. Such a piece of furni- 
ture, however, was more suitable to his own feelings 
than to those of his guests and attendants ; and an old 
favourite servant entreated him so earnestly to let it 
be removed, that at length he consented to have the 
coffin carried below; but he gave strict orders that it 
should be safely stowed, and reserved for the purpose 
for which its brave and worthy donor had designed it. 
The victory was complete; but Nelson could not 
pursue it as he would have done, for want of means. 
Had he been provided with small craft, nothing could 
have prevented the destruction of the storeships and 
transports in the port of Alexandria — four bomb- 
vessels would at that time have burnt the whok in a 



122 Robert Southey's 

few hours. " Were I to die this moment," said he in 
iiis despatches to the Admiralty, *' want of frigates 
would be found stamped on my heart ! No words of 
mine can express what I have suffered, and am suffer- 
ing, for want of them." He had also to bear up 
against great bodily suffering : the blow had so shaken 
his head, that from its constant and violent aching, 
and the perpetual sickness which accompanied the 
pain, he could scarcely persuade himself that the skull 
was not fractured. Had it not been for Trowbridge, 
Ball, Hood, and Hallowell, he declared that he should 
have sunk under the fatigue of refitting the squadron. 
** All," he said, "had done well; but these officers 
were his supporters." But, amidst his sufferings and 
exertions. Nelson could yet think of all the conse- 
quences of his victory; and, that no advantage from 
it might be lost, he despatched an officer overland to 
India, with letters to the governor of Bombay, in- 
forming him of the arrival of the French in Egypt, 
the total destruction of their fleet, and the consequent 
preservation of India from any attempt against it on 
the part of this formidable armament. '* He knew 
that Bombay," he said, ** was their first object, if 
they could get there; but he trusted that Almighty 
God would overthrow in Egypt these pests of the 
human race. Buonaparte had never yet had to con- 
tend with an English officer, and he would endeavour 
to make him respect us." This despatch he sent 
upon his own responsibility, with letters of credit 
upon the East India Company, addressed to the 
British consuls, vice-consuls, and merchants on his 
route, Nelson saying, ** that if he had done wrong, he 
hoped the bills would be paid, and he would repay 
the Company : for, as an Englishman, he should be 
proud that it had been in his power to put our settle- 
ments on their guard." The information which by 
this means reached India was of great importance. 
Orders had just been received for defensive prepara- 
tions, upon a scale proportionate to the apprehended 



Life of Nelson 123 

danger; and the extraordinary expenses, which would 
otherwise have been incurred, were thus prevented. 

Nelson was now at the summit of glory : congratu- 
lations, rewards, and honours were showered upon 
him by all the states, and princes, and powers, to 
whom his victory gave a respite. The first communi- 
cation of this nature which he received was from the 
Turkish Sultan, who, as soon as the invasion of Egypt 
was known, had called upon ** all true believers to 
take arms against those swinish infidels the French, 
that' they might deliver these blessed habitations from 
their accursed hands "; and who had ordered "his 
pashas to turn night into day in their efforts to take 
vengeance.'* The present of ** His Imperial Majesty, 
the powerful, formidable, and most magnificent Grand 
Seignior,'* was a pelisse of sables, with broad sleeves, 
valued at five thousand dollars ; and a diamond aig- 
rette, valued at eighteen thousand — the most honour- 
able badge among the Turks, and in this instance 
more especially honourable, because it was taken from 
one of the royal turbans. "If it were worth a mil- 
lion," said Nelson to his wife, " my pleasure would be 
to see it in your possession." The Sultan also sent, 
in a spirit worthy of imitation, a purse of two thou- 
sand sequins to be distributed among the wounded. 
The mother of the Sultan sent him a box, set with dia- 
monds, valued at one thousand pounds. The Czar 
Paul, in whom the better part of his strangely-com- 
pounded nature at this time predominated, presented 
him with his portrait set in diamonds, in a gold box, 
accompanied with a letter of congratulation written by 
his own hand. The King of Sardinia also wrote to 
him, and sent a gold box set with diamonds. Honours 
in profusion were awaiting him at Naples. In his 
own country the king granted these honourable aug- 
mentations to his armorial ensign : a chief undulated, 
argent ; thereon waves of the sea ; from which a palm- 
tree issuant, between a disabled ship on the dexter, 
and a ruinous battery on the sinister, all proper; and 



124 Robert Southey's 

for his crest, on a naval crown, otf the chelengk, or 
plume, presented to him by the Turk, with the motto, 
Palman qui meruit ferat. And to his supporters, 
being a sailor on the dexter, and a lion on the sinister, 
were given these honourable augmentations ; a palm 
branch in the sailor's hand, and another in the paw 
of the lion, both proper, with a tri-coloured flag 
and staff in the lion's mouth. He was created 
Baron Nelson of the Nile, and of Burnham Thorpe, 
with a pension of ;^2,ooo for his own life, and those 
of his two immediate successors. When the grant 
was moved in the House of Commons, General Wal- 
pole expressed an opinion that a higher degree of rank 
ought to be conferred. Mr. Pitt made answer that he 
thought it needless to enter into that question. " Ad- 
miral Nelson's fame," he said, '* would be co-equal 
with the British name, and it would be remembered 
that he had obtained the greatest naval victory on 
record : when no man would think of asking. Whether 
he had been created a baron, a viscount, or an earl? " 
It was strange that, in the very act of conferring a 
title, the minister should have excused himself for 
not having conferred a higher one, by representing all 
titles, on such an occasion, as nugatory and super- 
fluous. True, indeed, whatever title had been be- 
stowed, whether viscount, earl, marquis, duke, or 
prince, if our laws had so permitted, he who received 
it would have been Nelson still. That name he had 
ennobled beyond all addition of nobility : it was the 
name by which England loved him, France feared him, 
Italy, Egypt, and Turkey celebrated him, and by 
which he will continue to be known while the present 
kingdoms and languages of the world endure, and as 
long as their history after them shall be held in re- 
membrance. It depended upon the degree of rank 
what should be the fashion of his coronet, in what 
page of the red-book his name was to be inserted, 
and what precedency shoutd be allowed his lady in 
the drawing-room and at the ball. That Nelson's 



Life of Nelson 125 

honours were affected thus far, and no farther, might 
be conceded to Mr. Pitt and his colleagues in adminis- 
tration : but the degree of rank which they thought 
proper to allot was the measure of their gratitude, 
though not of his services. This Nelson felt ; and this 
he expressed with indignation among his friends. 

Whatever may have been the motives of the minis- 
try, and whatever the formalities with which they 
excused their conduct to themselves, the importance 
and magnitude of the victory were universally ac- 
knowledged. A grant of ;^io,ooo was voted to 
Nelson by the East India Company ; the Turkish Com- 
pany presented him with a piece of plate ; the City of 
London presented a sword to him, and to each of his 
captains. Gold medals were distributed to the cap- 
tains, and the first lieutenants of all the ships were 
promoted, as had been done after Lord Howe's vic- 
tory. Nelson was exceedingly anxious that the cap- 
tain and first lieutenant of the Culloden should not be 
passed over because of their misfortune. To Trow- 
bridge himself he said, ** Let us rejoice that the ship 
which got on shore was commanded by an officer 
whose character is so thoroughly established." To 
the Admiralty he stated that Captain Trowbridge's 
conduct was as fully entitled to praise as that of any 
one oflficer in the squadron, and as highly deserving 
of reward. *' It was Trowbridge,** said he, ** who 
equipped the squadron so soon at Syracuse; it was 
Trowbridge who exerted himself for me after the 
action ; it was Trowbridge who saved the Culloden, 
when none that I know in the service would have at- 
tempted it." The gold medal, therefore, by the 
king*s express desire, was given to Captain Trow- 
bridge, " foi- his services both before and since, and 
for the great and wonderful exertions which he made 
at the time of the action, in saving and getting off 
his ship.** The private letter from the Admiralty to 
Nelson informed him, that the first lieutenants of all 
the ships engaged were to be promoted. Nelson in- 



126 Robert Southeys 

stantly wrote to the commander-in-chief. ** I sin- 
cerely hope," said he, " this is not intended to exclude 
the first lieutenant of the Culloden. For Heaven's 
sake — for my sake — if it be so, get it altered. Our 
dear friend Trowbridge has endured enough. His 
sufferings were, in every respect, more than any of 
us." To the Admiralty he wrote in terms equally 
warm : * * I hope, and believe, the word engaged is not 
intended to exclude the Culloden. The merit of that 
ship, and her gallant captain, are too well known to 
benefit by anything I could say. Her misfortune was 
great in getting aground, while her more fortunate 
companions were in the full tide of happiness. No; 
I am confident that my good Lord Spencer will never 
add misery to misfortune. Captain Trowbridge on 
shore is superior to captains afloat : in the midst of his 
great misfortunes he made those signals which pre- 
vented certainly the Alexander and Siviftsure from 
running on the shoals. I beg your pardon for writing 
on a subject which, I verily believe, has never entered 
your Lordship's head; but my heart, as it ought to 
be, is warm to my gallant friends." Thus feelingly 
alive was Nelson to the claims and interests and feel- 
ings of others. The Admiralty replied that the excep- 
tion was necessary, as the ship had not been in action ; 
but they desired the commander-in-chief to promote 
the lieutenant upon the first vacancy which should 
occur. 

Nelson, in remembrance of an old and uninterrupted 
friendship, appointed Alexander Davison sole prize 
agent for the captured ships ; upon which Davison 
ordered medals to be struck in gold, for the captains ; 
in silver, for the lieutenants and warrant officers ; 
in gilt metal, for the petty officers; and in copper, 
for the seamen and marines. The cost of this act of 
liberality amounted to nearly ;^2,ooo. It is worthy of 
record on another account ; — for some of the gallant 
men, who received no other honorary badge of their 
conduct on that memorable day than this copper medal 



Life of Nelson 127 

from a private individual, years afterwards, when 
they died upon a foreign station, made it their last 
request that the medals might carefully be sent home 
to their respective friends, — so sensible are brave men 
of honour, in whatever rank they may be placed. 

Three of the frigates, whose presence would have 
been so essential a few weeks sooner, joined the 
squadron on the twelfth day after the action. The 
fourth joined a few days after them. Nelson thus re- 
ceived despatches which rendered it necessary for him 
to return to Naples. Before he left Egypt he burnt 
three of the prizes : they could not have been fitted 
for a passage to Gibraltar in less than a month, and 
that at a great expense, and with the loss of the ser- 
vice of at least two sail of the line. ** I rest assured,'* 
he said to the Admiralty, ** that they will be paid for, 
and have held out that assurance to the squadron. 
For if an admiral, after a victory, is to look after the 
captured ships, and not to the distressing of the 
enemy, very dearly, indeed, must the nation pay for 
the prizes. I trust that ;^6o,ooo will be deemed a 
very moderate sum for them; and when the services, 
time, and men, with the expense of fitting the three 
ships for a voyage to England, are considered. 
Government will save nearly as much as they are 
valued at. Paying for prizes," he continued, ** is no 
new idea of mine, and would often prove an amazing 
saving to the state, even without taking into calcula- 
tion what the nation loses by the attention of admirals 
to the property of the captors, — an attention abso- 
lutely necessary, as a recompense for the exertions of 
the officers and men. An admiral may be amply re- 
warded by his own feelings, and by the approbation 
of his superiors ; but what reward have the inferior 
officers and men but the value of the prizes? If an 
admiral takes that from them, on any consideration, 
he cannot expect to be well supported.*' To Earl 
St. Vincent he said, "If he could have been sure 
that Government would have paid a reasonable value 



128 Robert Southey's 

for them, he would have ordered two of the other 
prizes to be burnt : for they would cost more in re- 
fitting, and by the loss of ships attending them, than 
they were worth.** 

Having sent the six remaining prizes forward under 
Sir James Saumarez, Nelson left Captain Hood, in 
the Zealous f off Alexandria, with the Swiftsure, 
Goliathy Alcmeney Zealous^ and Emerald, and stood 
out to sea himself on the seventeenth day after the 
battle. 



CHAPTER Vr 

Nelson's health had suffered greatly while he was 
in the Agamemnon, ** My complaint," he said, ** is as 
if a girth were buckled taut over my breast ; and my 
endeavour in the night is to get it loose.*' After the 
battle of Cape St. Vincent he felt a little rest to be 
so essential to his recovery, that he declared he could 
not continue to serve longer than the ensuing sum- 
mer, unless it should be absolutely necessary ; for, in 
his own strong language, he had then been four years 
and nine months without one moment's repose for 
body or mind. A few months* intermission of labour 
he had obtained — not of rest, for it was purchased 
with the loss of a limb, and the greater part of the 
time had been a season of constant pain. As soon as 
his shattered frame had sufficiently recovered for him 
to resume his duties, he was called to services of 
greater importance than any on which he had hitherto 
been employed, and they brought with them com- 
mensurate fatigue and care. The anxiety which he 
endured, during his long pursuit of the enemy, was 
rather changed in its direction than abated by their 
defeat; and this constant wakefulness of thought, 
added to the effect of his wound, and the exertions 
from which it was not possible for one of so ardent 



Life of Nelson 129 

and wide-reaching a mind to spare himself, nearly 
proved fatal. On his way back to Italy he was seized 
with fever. For eighteen hours his life was despaired 
of; and even when the disorder took a favourable 
turn, and he was so far recovered as again to appear 
on deck, he himself thought that his end wsls ap- 
proaching, — such was the weakness to which the fever 
and cough had reduced him. Writing to Earl St. 
Vincent on the passage, he said to him, ** I never 
expect, my dear lord, to see your face again. It may 
please God that this will be the finish to that fever 
of anxiety which I have endured from the middle of 
June; but be that as it pleases His goodness, I am 
resigned to His will." 

The kindest attentions of the warmest friendship 
were awaiting him at Naples. ** Come here," -said 
Sir William Hamilton, *' for God's sake, my dear 
friend, as soon as the service will permit you. A 
pleasant apartment is ready for you in my house, and 
Emma is looking out for the softest pillows to repose 
the few wearied limbs you have left. ' * Happy would 
it have been for Nelson if warm and careful friendship 
had been all that awaited him there ! He himself saw 
at that time the character of the Neapolitan court, 
as it first struck an Englishman, in its true light ; and 
when he was on the way, he declared that he de- 
tested the voyage to Naples, and that nothing but 
necessity could have forced him to it. But never was 
any hero, on his return from victory, welcomed with 
more heartfelt joy. Before the battle of Aboukir the 
court of Naples had been trembling for its existence. 
The language which the Directory held towards it was 
well described by Sir William Hamilton, as being 
exactly the language of a highwayman. The Nea- 
politans were told that Benevento might be added to 
their dominions, provided they would pay a large sum, 
sufificient to satisfy the Directory; and they were 
warned, that if the proposal were refused, or even if 
there were any delay in accepting it, the French would 



130 Robert Southey's 

revolutionise all Italy. The joy, therefore, of the 
court at Nelson's success, was in proportion to the 
dismay from which that success relieved them. The 
queen was a daughter of Maria Theresa, and sister of 
Marie Antoinette. Had she been the wisest and 
gentlest of her sex, it would not have been possible for 
her to have regarded the French without hatred and 
horror ; and the progress of revolutionary opinions, 
while it perpetually reminded her of her sister's fate, 
excited no unreasonable apprehensions for her own. 
Her feelings, naturally ardent, and little accustomed 
to restraint, were excited to the highest pitch when 
the news of the victory arrived. Lady Hamilton, her 
constant friend and favourite, who was present, says, 
"It is not possible to describe her transports; she 
wept, she kissed her husband, her children, walked 
frantically about the room, burst into tears again, 
and again kissed and embraced every person near her, 
exclaiming, * O brave Nelson ! O God ! bless and pro- 
tect our brave deliverer ! O Nelson ! Nelson ! what do 
we not owe you ! O conqueror — saviour of Italy ! O 
that my swollen heart could now tell him personally 
what we owe to him ! ' " She herself wrote to the 
Neapolitan ambassador at London upon the occasion, 
in terms which show the fulness of her joy, and the 
height of the hopes which it had excited. ** I wish 
I could give wings," said she, *' to the bearer of the 
news, and, at the same time, to our most sincere 
gratitude. The whole of the sea-coast of Italy is 
saved ; and this is owing alone to the generous Eng- 
lish. This battle, or, to speak miore correctly, this 
total defeat of the regicide squadron, was obtained by 
the valour of this brave admiral, seconded by a navy 
which is the terror of its enemies. The victory is so 
complete that I can still scarcely believe it ; and if it 
were not the brave English nation, which is accus- 
tomed to perform prodigies by sea, I could not per- 
suade myself that it had happened. It would have 
moved you to have seen all my children, boys and 



Life of Nelson 131 

girls, hanging on my neck, and crying for joy at the 
happy news. Recommend the hero to his master ; he 
has filled the whole of Italy with admiration of the 
English. Great hopes were entertained of some ad- 
vantages being gained by his bravery, but no one 
could look for so total a destruction. All here are 
drunk with joy. ' ' 

Such being the feelings of the royal family, it may 
well be supposed with what delight, and with what 
honours, Nelson would be welcomed. Early on the 
22nd of September, the poor wretched Vanguard^ as 
he called his shattered vessel, appeared in sight of 
Naples. The Culloden and Alexander had preceded 
her by some days, and given notice of her approach. 
Many hundred boats and barges were ready to go 
forth and meet him, with music and streamers and 
every demonstration of joy and triumph. Sir William 
and Lady Hamilton led the way in their state barge. 
They had seen Nelson only for a few days four years 
ago, but they then perceived in him that heroic spirit 
which was now so fully and gloriously manifested to 
the world. Emma, Lady Hamilton, who from this 
time so greatly influenced his future life, was a woman 
whose personal accomplishments have seldom been 
equalled, and whose powers of mind were not less fas- 
cinating than her person. She was passionately at- 
tached to the queen ; and by her influence the British 
fleet had obtained those supplies at Syracuse, without 
which. Nelson always asserted, the battle of Aboukir. 
could not have been fought. During the long interval 
which passed before any tidings were received, her 
anxiety had been hardly less than that of Nelson him- 
self while pursuing an enemy of whom he could obtain 
no information ; and when the tidings were brought 
her by a joyful bearer open-mouthed, its effect was 
such that she fell like one who had been shot. She 
and Sir William had literally been made ill by their 
hopes and fears and joy at a catastrophe so far ex- 
ceeding all that they had dared to hope for. Their 



132 Robert Southey's 

admiration for the hero necessarily produced a degree 
of proportionate gratitude and affection; and when 
their barge came alongside the Vanguard, at the sight 
of Nelson, Lady Hamilton sprang up the ship's side, 
and exclaiming ' * O God ! is it possible ! ' ' fell into his 
arms, — ^more, he says, like one dead than alive. He 
described the meeting as * * terribly affecting. ' ' These 
friends had scarcely recovered from their tears, when 
the king, who went out to meet him three leagues in 
the royal barge, came on board and took him by the 
hand, calling him his deliverer and preserver; from 
all the boats around he was saluted with the same 
appellations ; the multitude who surrounded him when 
he landed repeated the same enthusiastic cries ; and 
the lazzaroni displayed their joy by holding up birds 
in cages, and giving them their liberty as he passed. 

His birthday, which occurred a week after his ar- 
rival, was celebrated with one of the most splendid 
f^tes ever beheld at Naples. But, notwithstanding 
the splendour with which he was encircled, and the 
flattering honours with which all ranks welcomed him, 
Nelson was fully sensible of the depravity, as well as 
weakness, of those by whom he was surrounded. 
** What precious moments," said he, ** the courts of 
Naples and Vienna are losing ! Three months would 
liberate Italy ; but this court is so enervated that the 
happy moment will be lost. I am very unwell; and 
their miserable conduct is not likely to cool my irrit- 
able temper. It is a country of fiddlers and poets, 
whores and scoundrels." This sense of their ruinous 
weakness he always retained ; nor was he ever blind 
to the mingled folly and treachery of the Neapolitan 
ministers, and the complication of iniquities under 
which the country groaned; but he insensibly, under 
the influence of Lady Hamilton, formed an affection 
for the court, to whose misgovernment the miserable 
condition of the country was so greatly to be imputed. 

The state of Naples may be described in few words. 
The king was one of the Spanish Bourbons. As the 



Life of Nelson 133 

Caesars have shown us to what wickedness the moral 
nature of princes may be perverted, so in this family, 
the degradation to which their intellectual nature can 
be reduced has been not less conspicuously evinced. 
Ferdinand, like the rest of his race, was passionately 
fond of field-sports, and cared for nothing else. His 
queen had all the vices of the house of Austria, with 
little to mitigate, and nothing to ennoble them ; — pro- 
vided she could have her pleasures, and the king his 
sports, they cared not in what manner the revenue 
was raised or administered. Of course a system of 
favouritism existed at court, and the vilest and most 
impudent corruption prevailed in every department of 
state, and in every branch of administration, from the 
highest to the lowest. It is only the institutions of 
Christianity, and the vicinity of better regulated 
states, which prevent kingdoms, under such circum- 
stances of misrule, from sinking into a barbarism 
like that of Turkey. A sense of better things was 
kept alive in some of the Neapolitans by literature, 
and by their intercourse with happier countries. These 
persons naturally looked to France, at the commence- 
ment of the Revolution ; and, during all the horrors of 
that Revolution, still cherished a hope that, by the 
aid of France, they might be enabled to establish a 
new order of things in Naples. They were grievously 
mistaken in supposing that the principles of liberty 
would ever be supported by France, but they were 
not mistaken in believing, that no government could 
be worse than their own ; and, therefore, they con- 
sidered any change as desirable. In this opinion men 
of the most different characters agreed. Many of the 
nobles, who were not in favour, wished for a revolu- 
tion, that they might obtain the ascendency to which 
they thought themselves entitled : men of desperate 
fortunes desired it, in the hope of enriching them- 
selves ; knaves and intriguers sold themselves to the 
French, to promote it; and a few enlightened men, 
and true lovers of their country, joined in the same 



134 Robert Southey's 

cause from the purest and noblest motives. All these 
were confounded under the common name of Jaco- 
bins ; and the Jacobins of the Continental kingdoms 
.were regarded by the English with more hatred than 
they deserved. They were classed with Philippe 
Egalite, Marat, and Hebert; whereas they deserved 
rather to be ranked, if not with Locke, and Sidney, 
and Russel, at least with Argyle and Monmouth, and 
those who, having the same object as the prime 
movers of our own revolution, failed in their prema- 
ture, but not unworthy attempt. 

No circumstances could be more unfavourable to 
the best interests of Europe than those which placed 
England in strict alliance with the superannuated 
and abominable governments of the Continent. The 
subjects of those governments who wished for freedom 
thus became enemies to England, and dupes and 
agents of France. They looked to their own grinding 
grievances, and did not see the danger with which the 
liberties of the world were threatened. England, on 
the other hand, saw the danger in its true magnitude, 
but was Wind to these grievances, and found herself 
compelled to support systems which had formerly 
been equally the object of her abhorrence and her con- 
tempt. This was the state of Nelson's mind : he 
knew that there could be no peace for Europe till 
the pride of France was humbled and her strength 
broken; and he regarded all those who were the 
friends of France as traitors to the common cause, 
as well as to their own individual sovereigns. There 
are situations in which the most opposite and hostile 
parties may mean equally well, and yet act equally 
wrong. The court of Naples, unconscious of com- 
mitting any crime by continuing the system of mis- 
rule to which they had succeeded, conceived that, in 
maintaining things as they were, they were main- 
taining their own rights, and preserving the people 
from such horrors as had been perpetrated in France. 
The Neapolitan revolutionists thought that without a 



Life of Nelson 135 

total change of system, any relief from the present 
evils was impossible, and they believed themselves 
justified in bringing- about that change by any means. 
Both parties knew that it was the fixed intention of 
the French to revolutionise Naples. The revolu- 
tionists supposed that it was for the purpose of 
establishing a free government : the court, and all 
disinterested persons, were perfectly aware that 
the enemy had no other object than conquest and 
plunder. 

The battle of the Nile shook the power of France. 
Her most successful general and her finest army were 
blocked up in Egypt, hopeless, as it appeared, of 
return ; and the government was in the hands of men 
without talents, without character, and divided among 
themselves. Austria, whom Buonaparte had terrified 
into a peace at a time when constancy on her part 
would probably have led to his destruction, took 
advantage of the crisis to renew the war. Russia 
also was preparing to enter the field with unbroken 
forces ; led by a general, whose extraordinary mili- 
tary genius would have entitled him to a high and 
honourable rank in history, if it had not been sullied 
by ail the ferocity of a barbarian. Naples, seeing 
its destruction at hand, and thinking that the only 
means of averting it was by meeting the danger, 
after long vacillations, which were produced by the 
fears, and weakness, and treachery, of its council, 
agreed at last to join this new coalition with a 
numerical force of 80,000 men. Nelson told the king 
in plain terms, that he had his choice, either to 
advance, trusting to God for His blessing on a just 
cause, and prepared to die sword in hand, or to 
remain quiet and be kicked out of his kingdom ; — 
one of these things must happen. The king made 
answer he would go on, and trust in God and Nelson ; 
and Nelson, who would else have returned to Egypt, 
for the purpose of destroying the French shipping 
in Alexandria, gave up his intention at the desire of 



136 Robert Southey's 

the Neapolitan court, and resolved to remain on that 
station in the hope that he might be useful to the 
movements of the army. He suspected also, with 
reason, that the continuance of his fleet was so 
earnestly requested, because the royal family thought 
their persons would be safer, in case of any mishap, 
under the British flag than under their own. 

His first object was the recovery of Malta, an 
island which the King of Naples pretended to claim. 
The Maltese, whom the villainous knights of their 
order had betrayed to France, had taken up arms 
against their rapacious invaders with a spirit and 
unanimity worthy of the highest praise. They 
blockaded the French garrison by land, and a small 
squadron, under Captain Ball, began to blockade them 
by sea on the 12th of October. Twelve days after- 
wards Nelson arrived, and the little island of Gozo, 
dependent upon Malta, which had also been seized 
and garrisoned by the French, capitulated soon after 
his arrival, and was taken possession of by the British 
in the name of His Sicilian Majesty, — a power who 
had no better claim to it than France. Having seen 
this effected, and reinforced Captain Ball, he left that 
able oflicer to perform a most arduous and important 
part, and returned himself to co-operate with the 
intended movements of the Neapolitans. 

General Mack was at the head of the Neapolitan 
rroops ; — all that is now doubtful concerning this 
man is, whether he was a coward or a traitor; — at 
that time he was assiduously extolled as a most con- 
summate commander to whom Europe might look for 
deliverance ; and when he was introduced by the king 
and queen to the British admiral, the queen said to 
him, "Be to us by land, general, what my hero 
Nelson has been by sea." Mack, on his part, did 
not fail to praise the force which he was appointed 
to command : '* It was," he said, ** the finest army in 
Europe." Nelson agreed with him that there could 
not be finer men ; but when the general, at a review, 



Life of Nelson 137 

so directed the operations of a mock fight, that, by 
an unhappy blunder, his own troops were surrounded 
instead of those of the enemy, he turned to his 
friends and exclaimed, with bitterness, that the fellow 
did not understand his business. Another circum- 
stance, not less characteristic, confirmed Nelson in 
this judgment. ** General Mack," said he, in one of 
his letters, ** cannot move without five carriages ! I 
have formed my opinion. I heartily pray I may be 
mistaken." 

While Mack, at the head of 32,000 men, marched 
into the Roman state, 5,000 Neapolitans were 
embarked on board the British and Portuguese 
squadron, to take possession of Leghorn. This was 
effected without opposition; and the Grand Duke of 
Tuscany, whose neutrality had been so outrageously 
violated by the French, was better satisfied with the 
measure than some of the Neapolitans themselves. 
Naselli, their general, refused to seize the French 
vessels at Leghorn, because he, and the Duke di 
Sangro, who was ambassador at the Tuscan court, 
maintained that the King of Naples was not at war 
with France. ** What 1 " said Nelson, *' has not the 
king received, as a conquest made by him, the 
republican flag taken at Gozo? Is not his own flag 
flying there and at Malta, not only by his permission, 
but by his order? Is not his flag shot at every day 
by the French, and their shot returned from batteries 
which bear that flag? Are not two frigates and a 
corvette placed under my orders, ready to fight the 
French, meet them where they may? Has not the 
king sent publicly from Naples guns, mortars, &c., 
with officers and artillery, against the French in 
Malta? If these acts are not tantamount to any 
written paper, I give up all knowledge of what is 
war." This reasoning was of less avail than an 
argument addressed to the general's fears. Nelson 
told him, that if he permitted the many hundred 
French who were then in the mole to remain neutral. 



138 Robert Southey's 

till they had a fair opportunity of being active, they 
had one sure resource, if all other schemes failed, 
which was to set one vessel on fire ; the mole would 
be destroyed, probably the town also, and the port 
ruined for twenty years. This representation made 
Naselli agree to the half measure of laying an em- 
bargo on the vessels. Among them were a great 
number of French privateers, some of which were of 
such force as to threaten the greatest mischief to our 
commerce, and about seventy sail of vessels belong- 
ing to the Ligurian Republic, as Genoa was now 
called, laden with corn, and ready to sail for Genoa 
and France, where their arrival would have expedited 
the entrance of more French troops into Italy. ** The 
general," said Nelson, "saw, I believe, the conse- 
quence of permitting these vessels to depart, in the 
same light as myself; but there is this difference 
between us : he, prudently, and certainly safely, waits 
the orders of his court, taking no responsibility on 
himself. I act from the circumstances of the moment, 
as I feel may be most advantageous for the cause 
which I serve, taking all responsibility on myself." 
It was in vain to hope for anything vigorous or manly 
from such men as Nelson was compelled to act with. 
The crews of the French ships, and their allies, w^ere 
ordered to depart in two days. Four days elapsed, 
and nobody obeyed the order; nor, in spite of the 
representations of the British minister,^ Mr. Wind- 
ham, were any means taken to enforce it. The true 
Neapolitan shuffle, as Nelson called it, took place 
on all occasions. After an absence of ten days he 
returned to Naples, and receiving intelligence there, 
from Mr. Windham, that the privateers were at last 
to be disarmed, the corn landed, and the crews sent 
away, he expressed his satisfaction at the news in, 
characteristic language, saying, *' So far I am con- 
tent. The enemy will be distressed ; and, thank God, 
I shall get no money. The world, I know, think that 
money is our god ; and now they will be undeceived, 



Life of Nelson 139 

as far as relates to us. Down, down with the French ! 
is my constant prayer." 

Odes, sonnets, and congratulatory poems of every 
description, were poured in upon Nelson on his arrival 
at Naples. An Irish Franciscan, who was one of the 
poets, not being- content with panegyric upon this 
occasion, ventured upon a flight of prophecy, and 
predicted that Lord Nelson would take Rome with his 
ships. His lordship reminded Father M'Cormick 
that ships could not ascend the Tiber; but the father, 
who had probably forgotten this circumstance, met 
the objection with a bold front, and declared he saw 
that it would come to pass notwithstanding. Rejoic- 
ings of this kind were of short duration. The King 
of Naples was with the army which had entered 
Rome; but the Castle of St. Angelo was held by the 
French, and 13,000 French were strongly posted 
in the Roman states at Castallana. Mack had 
marched against them with 20,000 men. Nelson saw 
that the event was doubtful, or rather, that there 
could be very little hope of the result. But the 
immediate fate of Naples, as he well knew, hung 
upon the issue. ** If Mack is defeated," said he, ** in 
fourteen days this country is lost; for the emperor 
has not yet moved his army, and Naples has not the 
power of resisting the enemy. It was not a case of 
choice, but of necessity, which Induced the king to 
march out of his kingdom, and not wait till the 
French had collected a force sufficient to drive him 
out of it in a week." He had no reliance upon the 
Neapolitan officers, who, as he described them, 
seemed frightened at a drawn sword or a loaded gun; 
and he was perfectly aware of the consequences which 
the sluggish movements and deceitful policy of the 
Austrians were likely to bring down upon themselves, 
and all their Continental allies. " A delayed war, 
on the part of the emperor," said he, writing to the 
British minister at Vienna, ''will be destructive to 
this monarchy of Naples, and, of course, to the newly 



140 Robert Southeys 

acquired dominions of the emperor in Italy. Had the 
war commenced in September or October, all Italy 
would, at this moment, have been liberated. This 
month is worse than the last : the next will render 
the contest doubtful; and in six months, when the 
Neapolitan Republic will be org^anised, armed, and 
with its numerous resources called forth, the emperor 
will not only be defeated in Italy, but will totter on 
his throne at Vienna. Down, down with the French ! 
ought to be written in the council-room of every 
country in the world ; and may Almighty God give 
right thoughts to every sovereign, is my constant 
prayer." His perfect foresight of the immediate 
event was clearly shown in this letter, when he desired 
the ambassador to assure the empress (who was a 
daughter of the house of Naples), that notwithstand- 
ing the councils which had shaken the throne of her 
father and mother, he would remain there, ready to 
save their persons, and her brothers and sisters; and 
that he had also left ships at Leghorn, to save the 
lives of the Grand Duke and her sister: *' For all,'' 
said he, ' * must be a republic, if the emperor does 
not act with expedition and vigour." 

His fears were soon verified. ** The Neapolitan 
officers," said Nelson, ** did not lose much honour, 
for, God knows, they had not much to lose; but they 
lost all they had." General St. Philip commanded 
the right wing, of 19,000 men. He fell in with 3,000 
of the enemy; and, as soon as he came near enough, 
deserted to them. One of his men had virtue enough 
to level a musket at him, and shot him through the 
arm ; but the wound was not sufficient to prevent him 
from joining with the French in pursuit of his own 
countrymen. Cannon, tents, baggage, and military 
chest, were all forsaken by the runaways, though they 
lost only forty men ; for the French, having put them 
to flight, and got possession of everything, did not 
pursue an army of more than three times their own 
number. The main body of the Neapolitans, under 



Life of Nelson 141 

Mack, did not behave better. The king returned to 
Naples, where every day brought with it the tidings 
of some new disgrace from the army, and the dis- 
covery of some new treachery at liome; till, four 
days after his return, the general sent him advice 
that there was no prospect of stopping the progress 
of the enemy, and that the royal family must look 
to their own personal safety. The state of the public 
mind in Naples was such, at this time, that neither 
the British minister, nor the British admiral, thought 
it prudent to appear at court. Their motions were 
watched ; and the revolutionists had even formed a 
plan for seizing and detaining them as hostages, to 
prevent any attack upon the city after the French 
should have taken possession of it. A letter which 
Nelson addressed at this time to the First Lord of 
the Admiralty shows in what manner he contemplated 
the possible issue of the storm. It was in these 
words : — " My Dear Lord, — There is an old saying, 
that when things are at the worst, they must mend. 
Now the mind of man cannot fancy things worse than 
they are here. But, thank God ! my health is better, 
my mind never firmer,, and my heart in the right trim 
to comfort, relieve, and protect those whom it is my 
duty to afford assistance to. Pray, my lord, assure 
our gracious sovereign, that, while I live, I will sup- 
port his glory; and that, if I fall, it shall be in a 
manner worthy of your lordship's faithful and obliged 
Nelson. I must not write more. Every word may be 
a text for a long letter. ' ' 

Meantime Lady Hamilton arranged everything for 
the removal of the royal family. This was conducted, 
on her part, with the greatest address, and without 
suspicion, because she had been in habits of con- 
stant correspondence with the queen. It was known 
that the removal could not be effected without 
danger; for the mob, and especially the lazzaroni, 
were attached to the king; and as, at this time, they 
felt a natural presumption in their own numbers and 



142 Robert Southey's 

strength, they insisted that he should not leave 
Naples. Several persons fell victims to their fury; 
among" others was a messenger from Vienna, whose 
body was dragged under the windows of the palace in 
the king's sight. The king and queen spoke to the 
mob, and pacified them ; but it would not have been 
safe, while they were in this agitated state, to have 
embarked the effects of the royal family openly. 
Lady Hamilton, like a heroine of modern romance, 
explored, with no little danger, a subterraneous pass- 
age, leading from the palace to the seaside; through 
this passage the royal treasure, the choicest pieces of 
painting and sculpture, and other property, to the 
amount of two millions and a half, were conveyed to 
the shore, and stowed safely on board the English 
ships. On the night of the 21st, at half -past eight, 
Nelson landed, brought out the whole royal family, 
embarked them in three barges, and carried them 
safely through a tremendous sea, to the Vanguard. 
Notice was then immediately given to the British 
merchants that they would be received on board any 
ship in the squadron. Their property had previously 
been embarked in transports. Two days were passed 
in the bay, for the purpose of taking such persons on 
board as required an asylum ; and on the night of the 
23rd the fleet sailed. The nc^tt day a more violent 
storm arose than Nelson had ever before encountered. 
On the 25th, the youngest of the princes was taken 
ill, and died in Lady Hamilton's arms. During this 
whole trying season Lady Hamilton waited upon the 
royal family with the zeal of the most devoted ser- 
vant, at a time when, except one man, no person 
belonging to the court assisted them. 

On the morning of the 26th the royal family were 
landed at Palermo. It was soon seen that their flight 
had not been premature. Prince Pignatelli, who had 
been left as vicar-general and viceroy, with orders to 
defend the kingdom to the last rock in Calabria, sent 
plenipotentiaries to the French camp before Capua; 



Life of Nelson 143 

and they, for the sake of saving the capital, signed 
an armistice, by which the greater part of the king- 
dom was given up to the enemy : a cession that 
necessarily led to the loss of the whole. This was on 
the loth of January. The French advanced toward 
Naples. Mack, under pretext of taking shelter from 
the fury of the lazzaroni, fled to the French general 
Championet, who sent him under an escort to Milan ; 
but as France hoped for further services from this 
wretched traitor, it was thought prudent to treat him 
apparently as a prisoner of war. The Neapolitan 
army disappeared in a few days : of the men, some 
following their officers, deserted to the enemy. The 
greater part took the opportunity of disbanding them- 
selves. The lazzaroni proved true to their country. 
They attacked the enemy's advanced posts, drove 
them in, and were not dispirited by the murderous 
defeat which they suffered from the main body. 
Flying into the city, they contmued to defend it, even 
after the French had planted their artillery in the 
principal streets. Had there been a man of genius to 
have directed their enthusiasm, or had there been any 
correspondent feeling in the higher ranks, Naples 
might have set a glorious example to Europe, and 
have proved the grave of every Frenchman who 
entered it. But the vices of the Government had 
extinguished all other patriotism than that of a 
rabble, who had no other virtue than that sort of 
loyalty, which was like the fidelity of a dog to its 
master. This fidelity the French and their adherents 
counteracted by another kind of devotion. The 
priests affirmed that St. Januarius had declared in 
favour of the Revolution : the miracle of his blood 
was performed with the usual success, and more than 
usual effect, on the very evening when, after two 
days of desperate fighting, the French obtained pos- 
session of Naples. A French guard of honour was 
stationed at his church. Championet gave '* respect 
for St. Januarius " as the word for the army; and the 



144 Robert Southey's 

next day Te Deum was sung by the archbishop in the 
cathedral, and the inhabitants were invited to attend 
the ceremony, and join in thanksgiving for the 
glorious entry of the French ; who, it was said, being 
under the peculiar protection of Providence, had re- 
generated the Neapolitans, and were come to estab- 
lish and consolidate their happiness. 

It seems to have been Nelson's opinion, that the 
Austrian cabinet regarded the conquest of Naples 
with complacency, and that its measures were 
directed so as designedly not to prevent the French 
from overrunning it. That cabinet was assuredly 
capable of any folly and of any baseness ; and it is not 
improbable that, at this time, calculating upon the 
success of the new coalition, it indulged a dream of 
adding extensively to its former Italian possessions, 
and therefore left the few remaining powers of Italy 
to be overthrown, as a means which would facilitate 
its own ambitious views. The King of Sardinia, 
finding it impossible longer to endure the exactions of 
France and the insults of the French commissary, 
went to Leghorn, embarked on board a Danish 
frigate, and sailed, under British protection, to Sar- 
dinia; that part of his dominions which the maritime 
supremacy of England rendered a secure asylum. On 
his arrival he published a protest against the conduct 
of France; declaring, upon the faith and word of a 
king, that he had never infringed, even in the slightest 
degree, the treaties which he had made with the 
French Republic. Tuscany was soon occupied by 
French troops, — a fate which bolder policy might, 
perhaps, have failed to avert, but which its weak and 
timid neutrality rendered inevitable. Nelson began 
to fear even for Sicily. ** Oh, my dear sir !" said he, 
writing to Commodore Duckworth, ** one thousand 
English troops would save Messina, — and I fear 
General Stuart cannot give me men to save this most 
important island ! " But his representations were not 
lost upon Sir Charles Stuart. This officer hastened 



Life of Nelson 145 

finmediately from Minorca, with a thousand men, 
assisted in the measures of defence which were taken, 
and did not return before he had satisfied himself 
that, if the Neapohtans were excluded from the nian- 
ag-ement of affairs, and the spirit of the peasantry 
properly directed, Sicily was safe. Before his 
coming-, Nelson had offered the king-, if no resources 
should arrive, to defend Messina with the ship's com- 
pany of an Eng^lish man-of-war. 

Russia had now entered into the war. Corfu sur- 
rendered to a Russian and Turkish fleet, acting- now, 
for the first time, in strange confederacy, yet against 
a power which was certainly the common and worst 
enemy of both. Trowbridge, having given up the 
blockade of Alexandria to Sir Sidney Smith, rejoined 
Nelson, bringing with him a considerable addition of 
strength; and in himself, what Nelson valued more, 
a man upon whose sagacity, indefatigable zeal, and 
inexhaustible resources, he could place full reliance. 
Trov/bridge was intrusted to commence the opera- 
tions against the French in the Bay of Naples. 
Meantime Cardinal Ruffo, a man of questionable 
character, but of a temper fitted for such times, 
having landed in Calabria, raised what he called 
a Christian army, composed of the best and the 
vilest material : loyal peasants, enthusiastic priests 
and friars, galley slaves, the emptying of the jails, and 
banditti. The islands in the Bay of Naples were joy- 
fully delivered up by the inhabitants, who were in a 
state of famine already from the effects of this baleful 
revolution. Trowbridge distributed among them all 
his flour; and Nelson pressed the Sicilian court in- 
cessantly for supplies, telling them that /^ioo,ooo 
given away in provisions would, at this time, pur- 
chase a kingdom. Money, he was told, they had not 
to give; and the wisdom and integrity which might 
have supplied its want were not to be found. ** There 
is nothing,'* said he, "which I propose, that is not, 
as far as orders go, implicitly complied with; but the 

L 



146 Robert Southey's 

execution is dreadful and almost makes me mad. My 
desire to serve their Majesties faithfully, as is my 
duty, has been such that I am almost blind and worn- 
out, and cannot, in my present state, hold much 
longer." 

Before any government can be overthrown by the 
consent of the people, the government must be in- 
tolerably oppressive, or the people thoroughly cor- 
rupted. Bad as the misrule at Naples had been, its 
consequences had been felt far less there than in 
Sicily; and the peasantry had that attachment to the 
soil which gives birth to so many of the noblest, as 
well as of the happiest, feelings. In all the islands the 
people were perfectly frantic with joy when they saw 
the Neapolitan colours hoisted. At Procida Trow- 
bridge could not procure even a rag of the tri- 
coloured flag to lay at the king's feet; — it was rent 
into ten thousand pieces by the inhabitants, and 
entirely destroyed. " The horrid treatment of the 
French," he said, **had made them mad." It exas- 
perated the ferocity of a character which neither the 
laws nor the religion under which they lived tended 
to mitigate. Their hatred was especially directed 
against the Neapolitan revolutionists ; — and the fisher- 
men, in concert among themselves, chose each his own 
victim, whom he would stiletto when the day of 
vengeance should arrive. The head of one was sent 
off one morning to Trowbridge, with his basket of 
grapes for breakfast; and a note from the Italian, 
who had, what he called, the glory of presenting it, 
saying he had killed the man as he was running away, 
and begging his Excellency to accept the head, and 
consider it as a proof of the writer's attachment to 
the crown. With the first successes of the court the 
work of punishment began. The judge at Ischia said 
it was necessary to have a bishop to degrade the 
traitorous priests before he could execute them ; upon 
which Trowbridge advised him to hang them first, 
and send them to him afterwards, if he did not think 



Life of Nelson 147 

that degradation sufficient. This was said with the 
straightforward feeling of a sailor, who cared as little 
for canon law as he knew about it; but when he dis- 
covered that the judge's orders were to go through 
the business in a summary manner, under his sanc- 
tion, he told him at once that could not be, for the 
prisoners were not British subjects ; and he declined 
to have anything to do with it. They were mani- 
festly persons about the court who, while they 
thirsted for the pleasure of vengeance, were devising 
how to throw the odium of it upon the English. They 
wanted to employ an English man-of-war to carry the 
priests to Palermo, for degradation, and then bring 
them back for execution; — and they applied to Trow- 
bridge for a hangman, which he indignantly refused. 
He, meantime, was almost heart-broken by the situa- 
tion in which he found himself. He had promised 
relief to the islanders, relying upon the queen's pro- 
mise to him. He had distributed the whole of his 
private stock, — there was plenty of grain at Palermo, 
and in its neighbourhood, and yet none was sent him; 
— the enemy, he complained, had more interest there 
than the king; and the distress for bread which he 
witnessed was such, he said, that it would move even 
a Frenchman to pity. 

Nelson's mind was not in a happier state respecting 
public aifairs. ** As to politics," said he, ** at this 
time they are my abomination : the ministers of kings 
and princes are as great scoundrels as ever lived. 
The brother of the emperor is just going to marry the 
great Something of Russia, and it is more than 
expected that a kingdom is to be found for him in 
Italy, and that the King of Naples will be sacrificed." 
Had there been a wise and manly spirit in the Italian 
states, or had the conduct of Austria been directed by 
anything like a principle of honour, a more favourable 
opportunity could not have been desired, for restoring 
order and prosperity in Europe, than the misconduct 
of the French Directory at this time afforded. But 



148 Robert Southeys 

Nelson saw selfishness and knavery wherever he 
looked ; and even the pleasure of seeing a cause 
prosper, in which he was so zealously engaged, was 
poisoned by his sense of the rascality of those with 
whom he was compelled to act. At this juncture in- 
telligence arrived that the French fleet had escaped 
from Brest, under cover of a fog, passed Cadiz, un- 
seen by Lord Keith's squadron, in hazy weather, and 
entered the Mediterranean. It was said to consist of 
twenty-four sail of the line, six frigates, and three 
sloops. The object of the French was to liberate the 
Spanish fleet, form a junction with them, act against 
Minorca and Sicily, and overpower our naval force in 
the Mediterranean, by falling in with detached squad- 
rons, and thus destroying it in detail. When they 
arrived off Carthagena, they requested the Spanish 
ships to make sail and join : but the Spaniards replied, 
they had not men to man them. To this it was 
answered, that the French had men enough on board 
for that purpose. But the Spaniards seem to have 
been apprehensive of delivering up their ships thus 
entirely into the power of such allies, and refused to 
come out. The fleet from Cadiz, however, consisting 
of from seventeen to twenty sail of the line, got out, 
under Masarredo, a man who then bore an honour- 
able name, which he has since rendered infamous by 
betraying his country. They met with a violent storm 
off the coast of Oran, which dismasted many of their 
ships, and so effectually disabled them as to prevent 
the junction, and frustrate a well-planned expedition. 

Before this occurred, and while the junction was as 
probable as it would have been formidable, Nelson 
was in a state of the greatest anxiety. "What a 
state am I in ! " said he to Earl St. Vincent. ** If I 
go, I risk, and more than risk, Sicily ; for we know, 
from experience, that more depends upon opinion 
than upon acts themselves ; and as I stay, my heart is 
breaking. '- His first business was to summon Trow- 
bridge to join him with all the ships of the line under 



Life of Nelson 149 

his command, and a frigate, if possible. Then hear- 
ing that the French had entered the Mediterranean, 
and expecting them at Palermo, where he had only 
his own ship — with that single ship he prepared to 
make all the resistance possible. Trowbridge having 
joined him, he left Captain E. J. Foote, of tlie Sea- 
horse ^ to command the smaller vessels in the Bay of 
Naples, and sailed with six ships — one a Portuguese, 
and a Portuguese corvette — telling Earl St. Vincent 
that the squadron should never fall into the hands of 
the enemy: "And before we are destroyed," said 
he, " I have little doubt but they will have their wings 
so completely clipped that they may be easily over- 
taken." It was just at this time that he received 
from Captain Hallowell the present of the coflin. Such 
a present was regarded by the men with natural aston- 
ishment; one of his old shipmates in the Agamemnon 
said — ** We shall have hot work of it indeed ! You 
see the admiral intends to fight till he is killed ; and 
there he is to be buried." Nelson placed it upright 
against the bulkhead of his cabin, behind his chair 
where he sat at dinner. The gift suited him at this 
time. It is said that he was disappointed in the step- 
son whom he had loved so dearly from his child- 
hood, and who had saved his life at Teneriffe ; and it 
is certain that he now formed an infatuated attach- 
ment for Lady Hamilton which totally weaned his 
affections from his wife. Farther than this, there is 
no reason to believe that this most unfortunate attach- 
ment was criminal : — but this was criminality enough, 
and it brought with it its punishment. Nelson was 
dissatisfied with himself ; and, therefore, weary of the 
world. This feeling he now frequently expressed. 
** There is no true happiness in this life," said he, 
***and in my present state I could quit it with a 
smile." And in a letter to his old friend Davison he 
said, ** Believe me, my only wish is to sink with 
honour into the grave; and when that shall please 
God, I shall meet death with a smile. Not that I am 



150 Robert Southey's 

insensible to the honours and riches my king and 
country have heaped upon me, — so much more than 
any officer could deserve ; yet am I ready to quit this 
virorld of trouble, and envy none but those of the 
estate six feet by two." 

Well had it been for Nelson if he had made no 
other sacrifices to this unhappy attachment than his 
peace of mind; but it led to the only blot upon his 
public character. While he sailed from Palermo, with 
the intention of collecting his whole force, and keep- 
ing off iMaretimo, either to receive reinforcements 
there, if the French were bound upwards, or to hasten 
to Minorca, if that should be their destination. Cap- 
tain Foote, in the Seahorse^ with the Neapolitan 
frigates and some small vessels, under his command, 
was left to act with a land force, consisting of a few 
regular troops, of four different nations, and with 
the armed rabble which Cardinal Ruffo called the 
Christian army. His directions were to co-operate 
to the utmost of his power with the royalists, at whose 
head Ruffo had been placed, and he had no other 
instructions whatever. Ruffo advancing, without any 
plan, but relying upon the enemy's want of numbers, 
which prevented them from attempting to act upon 
the offensive, and ready to take advantage of any 
accident which might occur, approached Naples. Fort 
St. Elmo, which commands the town, was wholly 
garrisoned by French troops ; the castles of Uovo and 
Nuovo, which commanded the anchorage, were chiefly 
defended by Neapolitan revolutionists, the powerful 
men among them having taken shelter there. If these 
castles were taken, the reduction of Fort St. Elmo 
would be greatly expedited. They were strong 
places, and "there was reason to apprehend that the 
French fleet might arrive to relieve them. Ruffo pro- 
posed to the garrison to capitulate, on condition that 
their persons and property should be guaranteed, and 
that they should, at their own option, either be sent 
to Toulon, or remain at Naples, without being 



Life of Nelson 151 

molested either in their persons or families. This 
capitulation was accepted : it was signed by the car- 
dinal, and the Russian and Turkish commanders, and 
lastly, by Captain Foote, as commander of the British 
force. About six-and-thirty hours afterwards Nelson 
arrived in the bay, with a force, which had joined him 
during- his cruise, consisting of seventeen sail of the 
line, with 1,700 troops on board, and the Prince 
Royal of Naples in the admiral's ship. A flag of truce 
was flying on the castles, and on board the Seahorse. 
Nelson made a signal to annul the treaty; declaring 
that he would grant rebels no other terms than those 
of unconditional submission. The cardinal objected 
to this : nor could all the arguments of Nelson, Sir W. 
Hamilton, and Lady Hamilton, who took an active 
part in the conference, convince him that a treaty of 
such a nature, solemnly concluded, could honourably 
be set aside. He retired at last, silenced by Nelson's 
authority, but not convinced. Captain Foote was 
sent out of the bay ; and the garrisons, taken out of 
the castles, under pretence of carrying the treaty into 
effect, were delivered over as rebels to the vengeance 
of the Sicilian court. — A deplorable transaction ! A 
stain upon the memory of Nelson, and the honour of 
England ! To palliate it would be in vain ; to justify it 
would be wicked : there is no alternative, for one who 
will not make himself a participator in guilt, but to 
record the disgraceful story with sorrow and with 
shame. 

Prince Francesco Caraccioli, a younger branch of 
one of the noblest Neapolitan families, escaped from 
one of these castles before it capitulated. He was at 
the head of the marine, and was nearly seventy years 
of age, bearing a high character, both for professional 
and personal merit. He had accompanied the Court 
to Sicily ; but when the revolutionary government, or 
Parthenopaean Republic, as it was called, issued an 
edict, ordering all absent Neapolitans to return, on 
pain of confiscation of their property, he solicited and 



152 Robert Southey's 

obtained permission of the king to return, his estates 
being very great. It is said that the king, when he 
granted him this permission, warned him not to take 
any part in politics ; expressing, at the same time, 
his own persuasion that he should recover his king- 
dom. But neither the king, nor he himself, ought to 
have imagined that, in such times, a man of such 
reputation would be permitted to remain inactive; 
and it soon appeared that Caraccioli was again in 
command of the navy, and serving under the republic 
against his late sovereign. The sailors reported that 
he was forced to act thus : and this was believed, till 
it was seen that he directed ably the offensive opera- 
tions of the revolutionists, and did not avail himself 
of opportunities for escaping when they offered. 
When the recovery of Naples was evidently near, he 
applied to Cardinal Ruffo, and to the Duke of Cal- 
virrano, for protection ; expressing his hope that the 
few days during which he had been forced to obey the 
French, would not outweigh forty years of faithful 
services : — but, perhaps not receiving such asurances 
as he wished, and knowing too well the temper of the 
Sicilian court, he endeavoured to secrete himself, and 
a price was set upon his head. More unfortunately 
for others than for himself, he was brought in alive, 
having been discovered in the disguise of a peasant, 
and carried one morning on board Lord Nelson's 
ship, with his hands tied behind him. 

Caraccioli was well known to the British officers, 
and had been ever highly esteemed by all who knew 
him.. Captain Hardy ordered him immediately to be 
unbound, and to be "treated with all those attentions 
which he felt due to a man who, when last on board 
the Foudroyant, had been received as an admiral and 
a prince. Sir William and Lady Hamilton were in 
the ship ; but Nelson, it is affirmed, saw no one, except 
his own officers, during the tragedy which ensued. 
His own determination was made ; and he issued an 
order to the Neapolitan commodore, Count Thurn, to 



Life of Nelson 153 

assemble a court-martial of Neapolitan officers, on 
board the British flag-ship, proceed immediately to try 
the prisoner, and report to him, if the charges were 
proved, what punishment he ought to suffer. These 
proceedings were as rapid as possible : Caraccioli was 
brought on board at nine in the forenoon, and the 
trial began at ten. It lasted two hours : he averred 
in his defence that he had acted under compulsion, 
having been compelled to serve as a common soldier, 
till he consented to take command of the fleet. This, 
the apologists of Lord Nelson say, he failed in prov- 
ing. They forget that the possibility of proving it was 
not allowed him ; for he was brought to trial within an 
hour after he was legally in arrest ; and how, in that 
time, was he to collect his witnesses ? He was found 
guilty, and sentenced to death ; and Nelson gave 
orders that the sentence should be carried into effect 
that evening, at five o'clock, on board the Sicilian 
frigate. La Minerva, by hanging him at the fore-yard- 
arm till sunset; when the body was to be cut down 
and thrown into the sea. Caraccioli requested Lieu-" 
tenant Parkinson, under whose custody he was placed, 
to intercede with Lord Nelson for a second trial, — for 
this, among other reasons, that Count Thurn, who 
presided at the court-martial, was notoriously his per- 
sonal enemy. Nelson made answer, that the prisoner 
had been fairly tried by the officers of his own country, 
and he could not interfere : forgetting that, if he felt 
himself justified in ordering the trial and the execu- 
tion, no human being could ever have questioned the 
propriety of his interfering on the side of mercy. 
Caraccioli then entreated that he might be shot. *' I 
am an old man, sir," said he; ** I leave no family 
to lament me, and therefore cannot be supposed to be 
very anxious about prolonging my life ; but the dis- 
grace of being hanged is dreadful to me. " When this 
was repeated to Nelson, he only told the lieutenant, 
with much agitation, to go and attend his duty. As a 
last hope, Caraccioli asked the lieutenant if he thought 



154 Robert Southey s 

an application to Lady Hamilton would be beneficial ; 
Parkinson went to seek her : she was not to be seen 
on this occasion, — but she was present at the execu- 
tion. She had the most devoted attachment to the 
Neapolitan court; and the hatred which she felt 
against those whom she regarded as its enemies 
made her, at this time, forget what was due to the 
character of her sex, as well as of her country. Here, 
also, a faithful historian is called upon to pronounce 
a severe and unqualified condemnation of Nelson's 
conduct. Had he the authority of His Sicilian 
Majesty for proceeding as he did? If so, why was 
not that authority produced? If not, why were the 
proceedings hurried on without it? Why was the 
trial precipitated, so that it was impossible for the 
prisoner, if he had been innocent, to provide the wit- 
nesses who mjght have proved him so? Why was a 
second trial refused, when the knov/n animosity of the 
president of the court against the prisoner was con- 
sidered? Why was the execution hastened so as to 
preclude any appeal for mercy, and render the pre- 
rogative of mercy useless ? — Doubtless the British ad- 
miral seemed to himself to be acting under a rigid 
sense of justice; but to all other persons it was 
obvious that he was influenced by an infatuated at- 
tachment, — a baneful passion, which destroyed his 
domestic happiness, and now, in a second instance, 
stained ineffaceably his public character. 

The body was carried out to a considerable dis- 
tance, and sunk in the bay, with three double-headed 
shot, weighing 250 pounds, tied to its legs. Between 
two and three weeks afterwards, when the king was 
on board the Foiidroyanty a Neapolitan fisherman 
came to the ship and solemnly declared that Caraccioli 
had risen from the bottom of the sea, and was coming 
as fast as he could to Naples, swimming half out of 
the water. Such an account was listened to like a 
tale of idle credulity. The day being fair, Nelson, to 
please the king, stood out to sea; but the ship had 



Life of Nelson 155 

not proceeded far before a body was distinctly seen, 
uprig-ht in the water, and approaching them. It was 
soon recognised to be, indeed, the corpse of Carac- 
cioli, which had risen, and floated, while the great 
weights attached to the legs kept the body in a posi- 
tion like that of a living man. A fact so extraordi- 
nary astonished the king, and perhaps excited some 
feelings of superstitious fear, akin to regret. He 
gave permission for the body to be taken on shore, 
and receive Christian burial. It produced no better 
eifect. Naples exhibited more dreadful scenes than 
it had witnessed in the days of Massaniello. After 
the mob had had their fill of blood and plunder, the 
reins were given to justice; — if that can be called 
justice which annuls its own stipulations, looks to the 
naked facts alone, disregarding all motives and all 
circumstances ; and, without considering character, or 
science, or sex, or youth, sacrifices its victims, not for 
the public weal, but for the gratification of greedy 
vengeance. 

The Castles of St. Elmo, Gaieta, and Capua, 
remained to be subdued. On the land side there was 
no danger that the French in these garrisons should 
be relieved, for Suvorof was now beginning to drive 
the enemy before him ; but Nelson thought his 
presence necessary in the Bay of Naples : and when 
Lord Keith, having received intelligence that the 
French and Spanish fleets had formed a junction, and 
sailed for Carthagena, ordered him to repair to 
Minorca, with the whole, or the greater part, of his 
force, he sent Admiral Duckworth with a small part 
only. This was a dilemma which he had foreseen. 
'* Should such an order come at this moment," he 
said, in a letter previously written to the Admiralty, 
'* it would be a case for some consideration, whether 
Minorca is to be risked, or the two kingdoms of 
Naples and Sicily. I rather think my decision would 
be to risk the former." And, after he had acted upon 
this opinion, he wrote in these terms to the Duke of 



156 Robert Southeys 

Clarence, with whose high notions of obedience he 
was well acquainted : ** I am well aware of the con- 
sequences of disobeying my orders ; but as I have 
often before risked my life for the good cause, so I, 
with cheerfulness, did my commission; for, although 
a military tribunal may think me criminal, the world 
will approve of my conduct : and I regard not my own 
safety when the honour of my king is at stake." 

Nelson was right in his judgment ; no attempt was 
made upon Minorca ; and the expulsion of the French 
from Naples may rather be said to have been effected, 
than accelerated, by the English and Portuguese of 
the allied fleet, acting upon shore, under Trowbridge. 
The French commandant at St. Elmo, relying upon 
the strength of the place, and the nature of the force 
which attacked it, had insulted Captain Foote in the 
grossest terms ; but citoyen Mejan was soon taught 
better manners, when Trowbridge, in spite of every 
obstacle, opened five batteries upon the fort. He was 
informed that none of his letters, with the insolent 
printed words at the top, Liberii, Egalite, Guerre 
aux Tyrans, &c., would be received; but that, if he 
wrote like a soldier and a gentleman, he should be 
answered in the same style. The Frenchman then 
began to flatter his antagonist upon the hienfaisance 
and huinanitd, which were the least of the many 
virtues which distinguished Monsieur Trowbridge. 
Monsieur Trowbridge's hienfaisance was, at this 
time, thinking of mining the fort. ** If we can accom- 
plish that," said he, ** I am a strong advocate to send 
them, hostages and all, to Old Nick, and surprise him 
with a group of nobility and republicans. Meantime," 
he added, *'it was some satisfaction to perceive that 
the shells fell well, and broke some of their shins." 
Finally, to complete his character, Mejan offered to 
surrender for 150,000 ducats. Great Britain, perhaps, 
has made too little use of this kind of artillery, which 
France has found so effectual towards subjugating 
the Continent : but Trowbridge had the prey within 



Life of Nelson 157 

his reach; and, in the course of a few days, his last 
battery, ** after much trouble and palaver," as he 
said, " broug-ht the vagabonds to their senses." 

Trowbridge had more difficulties to overcome in 
this siege, from the character of the Neapolitans who 
pretended to assist him, and whom he made useful, 
than even from the strength of the place and the skill 
of the French. ** Such damned cowards and 
villains," he declared, ** he had never seen before." 
The men at the advanced posts carried on, what he 
called, "a diabolical good understanding" with the 
enemy, and the workmen would sometimes take fright 
and run away. ** I make the best I can," said he, 
'* of the degenerate race I have to deal with : the 
whole means of guns, ammunition, pioneers, &c. , 
with all materials, rest with them. With fair 
promises to the men, and threats of instant death if 
I find any one erring, a little spur has been given." 
Nelson said of him, with truth, upon this occasion, 
that he was a first-rate general. '* I find, sir," said 
he afterwards, in a letter to the Duke of Clarence, 
" that General Koehler does not approve of such 
irregular proceedings as naval officers attacking and 
defending fortifications. We have but one idea, — to 
get close alongside. None but a sailor would have 
placed a battery only i8o yards from the Castle of St. 
Elmo : a soldier must have gone according to art, 
and the %^s^'^^^-*^-»N* way. My brave Trowbridge went 
straight on, for we had no time to spare." 

Trowbridge then proceeded to Capua, and took the 
command of the motley besieging force. One 
thousand of the best men in the fleet were sent to 
assist in the siege. Just at this time Nelson received 
a peremptory order from Lord Keith to sail with the 
whole of his force for the protection of Minorca ; or, 
at least, to retain no more than was absolutely neces- 
sary at Sicily. "You will easily conceive my feel- 
ings," said he, in communicating this to Earl St. 
Vincent: "but my mind, as your lordship knows, 



158 Robert Southey's 

was perfectly prepared for this order; and it is now, 
more than ever, made up. At this moment I will not 
part with a single ship ; as I cannot do that without 
drawing a hundred and twenty men from each ship, 
now at the siege of Capua. I am fully aware of the 
act I have committed; but I am prepared for any 
fate which may await my disobedience. Capua and 
Gaieta will soon fall; and the moment the scoundrels 
of French are out of this kingdom I shall send eight 
or nine ships of the line to Minorca. I have done 
what I thought right : others may think differently : 
but it will be my consolation that I have gained 
a kingdom, seated a faithful ally of His Majesty 
firmly on his throne, and restored happiness to 
millions." 

x\t Capua Trowbridge had the same difficulties as 
at St. Elmo; and being farther from Naples, and 
from the fleet, was less able to overcome them. The 
powder was so bad that he suspected treachery; and 
when he asked Nelson to spare him forty casks from 
the ships, he told him it would be necessary that some 
Englishmen should accompany it, or they would steal 
one half, and change the other. '* Every man you 
see," said he, '* gentle and simple, are such notorious 
villains, that it is misery to be with them." Capua, 
however, soon fell. Gaieta immediately afterwards 
surrendered to Captain Louis, of the Minotaur. Here 
the commanding officer acted more unlike a French- 
man, Captain Louis said, than any one he had ever 
met; meaning, that he acted like a man of honour. 
He required, however, that the garrison should carry 
away their horses and other pillaged property, to 
which Nelson replied, ** that no property which they 
did not bring with them into the country could be 
theirs, and that the greatest care should be taken to 
prevent them from carrying it away." ** I am sorry," 
said he to Captain Louis, ** that you have entered into 
any altercation. There is no way of dealing with a 
Frenchman but to knock him down — to be civil to 



Life of Nelson 159 

them Is only to be laughed at, when they are 
enemies.** 

The whole kingdom of Naples was thus delivered 
by Nelson from the French. The Admiralty, how- 
ever, thought it expedient to censure him for dis- 
obeying Lord Keith's orders, and thus hazarding 
Minorca, without, as it appeared to them, any 
sufficient reason; and also for having landed seamen 
for the siege of Capua, to form part of an army 
employed in operations at a distance from the coast, 
where, in case of defeat, they might have been pre- 
vented from returning to their ships ; and they en- 
joined him '* not to employ the seamen in like manner 
in future." This reprimand was issued before the 
event was known : though, indeed, the event would 
not affect the principle upon which it proceeded. 
When Nelson communicated the tidings of his com- 
plete success, he said, in his public letter, *' that it 
would not be the less acceptable for having been 
principally brought about by British sailors." His 
judgment in thus employing them had been justified 
by the result; and his joy was evidently heightened 
by the gratification of a professional and becoming 
pride. To the First Lord he said, at the same time, 
"I certainly, from having only a left hand, cannot 
enter into details which may explain the motives that 
actuated my conduct. My principle is, to assist in 
driving the French to the devil, and in restoring 
peace and happiness to mankind. I feel that I am 
fitter to do the action than to describe it." He then 
added, that he would take care of Minorca. 

In expelling the French from Naples, Nelson had,, 
with characteristic zeal and ability, discharged his 
duty ; but he deceived himself when he Imagined that 
he had seated Ferdinand firmly on his throne, and 
that he had restored happiness to millions. These 
objects might have been accomplished If It had been 
possible to inspire virtue and wisdom Into a vicious 
and infatuated court; and if Nelson's eyes had not 



i6o Robert Southeys 

been, as it were, spellbound by that unhappy attach- 
ment which had now completely mastered him, he 
would have seen things as they were; and might, 
perhaps, have awakened the Sicilian court to a sense 
of their interest, if not of their duty. That court 
employed itself in a miserable round of folly and 
festivity, while the prisons of Naples were filled with 
groans, and the scaffolds streamed with blood. St. 
Januarius was solemnly removed from his rank as 
patron saint of the kingdom, having been convicted 
of Jacobinism, and St. Antonio as solemnly installed 
in his place. The king, instead of re-establishing 
order at Naples by his presence, speedily returned to 
Palermo to indulge in his favourite amusements. 
Nelson and the ambassador's family accompanied the 
court, and Trowbridge remained, groaning over the 
villainy and frivolity of those with whom he was com- 
pelled to deal. A party of officers applied to him for 
a passage to Palermo, to see the procession of St. 
Rosalia : — he recommended them to exercise their 
troops, and not behave like children. It was grief 
enough for him that the court should be busied in 
these follies, and Nelson involved in them. ** I dread, 
my lord," said he, " all the feasting, &c., at Palermo, 
i am sure your health will be hurt. If so, all their 
saints will be damned by the navy. The king would 
be better employed digesting a good government. 
Everything gives way to their pleasures. The money 
spent at Palermo gives discontent here : fifty thousand 
people are unemployed, trade discouraged, manu- 
factures at a stand. It is the interest of many here 
to keep the king away ; — they all dread reform : — 
their villainies are so deeply rooted, that, if some 
method is not taken to dig them out, this Govern- 
ment cannot hold together. Out of twenty millions 
of ducats collected as the revenue, only thirteen 
millions reach the treasury, and the king pays four 
ducats where he should pay one. He Is surrounded 
by thieves ; and none of them have honour or honesty 



Life of Nelson i6i 

enough to tell him the real and true state of things.'* 
In another letter he expressed his sense of the miser- 
able state of Naples. *' There are upwards of forty 
thousand families," said he, *' who have relations 
confined. If some act of oblivion is not passed, there 
will be no end of persecution; for the people of this 
country have no idea of anything but revenge; and 
to gain a point, would swear ten thousand false 
oaths. Constant efforts are made to get a man taken 
up in order to rob him. The confiscated property 
does not reach the king's treasury. — All thieves ! It 
is selling for nothing. His own people, whom he 
employs, are buying it up, and the vagabonds pocket 
the whole. I should not be surprised to hear that 
they brought a bill of expenses against him for the 
sale." 

The Sicilian court, however, were at this time duly 
sensible of the services which had been rendered 
them by the British fleet, and their gratitude to Nel- 
son was shown with proper and princely munificence. 
They gave him the dukedom and domain of Bronte, 
worth about ;^3,ooo a year. It was some days before 
he could be persuaded to accept it : the argument 
which finally prevailed is said to have been suggested 
by the queen, and urged, at her request, by Lady 
Hamilton upon her knees. ** He considered his own 
honour too much," she said, ** if he persisted in 
refusing what the king and queen felt to be abso- 
lutely necessary for the preservation of theirs." The 
king himself also is said to have addressed him in 
words which show that the sense of rank will some- 
times confer a virtue upon those who seem to be most 
unworthy of the lot to which they have been born : — 
** Lord Nelson, do you wish that your name alone 
should pass with honour to posterity; and that I, 
Ferdinand Bourbon, should appear ungrateful? " He 
gave him also, when the dukedom was accepted, a 
diamond-hilted sword, which his father, Charles III. 
of Spain, had given him on his accession to the throne 

M 



1 62 Robert Southey s 

of the Two Sicilies. Nelson said, **The reward was 
magnificent, and worthy of a king, and he was deter- 
mined that the inhabitants on the domain should be 
the happiest in all His Sicilian Majesty's dominions. 
Yet," said he, speaking of these, and the other 
remunerations which were made him for his services, 
** these presents, rich as they are, do not elevate 
me. My pride is, that at Constantinople, from the 
Grand Seignior to the lowest Turk, the name of 
Nelson is familiar in their mouths ; and in this country 
I am everything which a grateful monarch and people 
can call me." Nelson, however, had a pardonable 
pride in the outward and visible signs of honour 
which he had so fairly won; he was fond of his 
Sicilian title; the signification, perhaps, pleased him. 
Duke of Thunder was what in Dahomey would be 
called a strong name; it was to a sailor's taste; and 
certainly, to no man could it ever be more applicable. 
But a simple offering, which he received, not long 
afterwards, from the island of Zante, affected him 
with a deeper and finer feeling. The Greeks of that 
little community sent him a golden-headed sword, 
and a truncheon, set round with all the diamonds 
that the island could furnish, in a single row. They 
thanked him " for having, by his victory, preserved 
that part of Greece from the horrors of anarchy ; and 
prayed that his exploits might accelerate the day, in 
which, amidst the glory and peace of thrones, the 
miseries of the human race would cease." This un- 
expected tribute touched Nelson to the heart. ** No 
officer," he said, ** had ever received from any 
country a higher acknowledgment of his services." 

The French still occupied the Roman states; from 
which, according to their own admission, they had 
extorted, in jewels, plate, specie, and requisitions of 
every kind, to the enormous amount of eight millions 
sterling : yet they affected to appear as deliverers 
among the people whom they were thus cruelly 
plundering; and they distributed portraits of Buona- 



Life of Nelson 163 

parte, with the blasphemous inscription — " This is 
the true likeness of the holy saviour of the world ! " 
The people, detesting the impiety, and groaning 
beneath the exactions of these perfidious robbers, 
were ready to join any regular force that should come 
to their assistance; but they dreaded Cardinal Ruffo's 
rabble, and declared they would resist them as 
banditti, who came only for the purpose of pillage. 
Nelson perceived that no object was now so essential 
for the tranquillity of Naples as the recovery of Rome, 
which, in the present state of things, when Suvorof 
was driving the French before him, would complete 
the deliverance of Italy. He applied, therefore, to 
Sir James St. Clair Erskine, who, in the absence of 
General Fox, commanded at Minorca, to assist in 
this great object with 1,200 men. ** The field of 
glory," said he, ** is a large one, and was never more 
open to any one, than at this moment to you. Rome 
would throw open her gates, and receive you as her 
deliverer; and the Pope would owe his restoration 
to a heretic." But Sir James Erskine looked only 
at the difficulties of the undertaking. *' Twelve 
hundred men, he thought, would be too small a force 
to be committed in such an enterprise; for Civita 
Vecchia was a regular fortress ; — the local situation 
and climate also were such, that, even if this force 
were adequate, it would be proper to delay the expedi- 
tion till October. General Fox, too, was soon 
expected ; and during his absence, and under existing 
circumstances, he did not feel justified in sending 
away such a detachment." 

What this general thought it imprudent to at- 
tempt, Nelson and Trowbridge effected without his 
assistance by a small detachment from the fleet. 
Trowbridge first sent Captain Hallowell to Civita 
Vecchia, to offer the garrison there, and at Castle St. 
Angelo, the same terms which had been granted to 
Gaieta. Hallowell perceived, by the overstrained 
civility of the officers who came off to him, and the 



164 Robert Southey's 

compliments which they paid to the English nation, 
that they were sensible of their own weakness, and 
their inability to offer any effectual resistance ; but the 
French know, that while they are in a condition to 
serve their Government, they can rely upon it for 
every possible exertion in their support ; and this reli- 
ance gives them hope and confidence to the last. 
Upon Hallowell's report, Trowbridge, who had now 
been made Sir Thomas for his services, sent Captain 
Louis with a squadron, to enforce the terms which he 
had offered ; and, as soon as he could leave Naples, 
he himself followed. The French, who had no longer 
any hope from the fate of arms, relied upon their 
skill in negotiation, and proposed terms to Trow- 
bridge with that effrontery which characterises their 
public proceedings, but which is often as successful 
as it is impudent. They had a man of the right 
stamp to deal with. Their ambassador at Rome be- 
gan by saying that the Roman territory was the pro- 
perty of the French by right of conquest. The British 
commodore settled that point by replying, ** It is mine 
by reconquest. *' A capitulation was soon concluded 
for all the Roman states, and Captain Louis rowed 
up the Tiber in his barge, hoisted English colours on 
the Capitol, and acted, for the time, as governor of 
Rome. The prophecy of the Irish poet was thus 
accomplished, and the friar reaped the fruits : for 
Nelson, who was struck with the oddity of the circum- 
stance, and not a little pleased with it, obtained pre- 
ferment for him from the King of Sicily, and recom- 
mended him to the Pope. 

Having thus completed his work upon the continent 
of Italy, Nelson's whole attention was directed towards 
Malta, where Captain Ball, with most inadequate 
means, was besieging the French garrison. Never was 
any officer engaged in a more anxious and painful 
service : the smallest reinforcements from France 
would, at any moment, have turned the scale against 
him : and had it not been for his consummate ability, 



Life of Nelson 165 

and the love and veneration with which the Maltese 
regarded him, Malta must have remained in the hands 
of the enemy. Men, money, food, — all things were 
wanting. The garrison consisted of five thousand 
troops — the besieging force of five hundred English 
and Portuguese marines, and about fifteen hundred 
armed peasants. Long and repeatedly did Nelson 
solicit troops to effect the reduction of this important 
place. ** It has been no fault of the navy," said he, 
** that Malta has not been attacked by land; but we 
have neither the means ourselves nor influence with 
those who have." The same causes of demurral 
existed which prevented British troops from assist- 
ing in the expulsion of the French from Rome. Sir 
James Erskine was expecting General Fox, he could 
not act without orders ; and not having, like Nelson, 
that lively spring of hope within him, which par- 
takes enough of the nature of faith to work miracles 
in war, he thought it ** evident, that unless a respect- 
able land force, in numbers sufficient to undertake the 
siege of such a garrison in one of the strongest places 
of Europe, and supplied with proportionate artillery 
and stores, were sent against it, no reasonable hope 
could be entertained of its surrender." Nelson 
groaned over the spirit of over-reasoning caution, and 
unreasoning obedience. ** My heart," said he, *' is 
almost broken. If the enemy get supplies in, we may 
bid adieu to Malta : — all the force we can collect 
would then be of little use against the strongest place 
in Europe. To say that an officer is never, for any 
object, to alter his orders, is what I cannot com- 
prehend. The circumstances of this war so often 
vary, that an officer has almost every moment to 
consider, what would my superiors direct did they 
know what is passing under my nose? But, sir," 
said he, writing to the Duke of Clarence, " I find few 
think as I do. To obey orders is all perfection. To 
serve my king and destroy the French, I consider as 
the great order of all, from which little ones spring; 



1 66 Robert Southey s 

and if one of these militate against it (for who can tell 
exactly at a distance?), I go back, and obey the great 
order and object, to down — down with the damned 
French villains ! My blood boils at the name of a 
Frenchman.! " 

At length General Fox arrived at Minorca, — and, 
at length, permitted Colonel Graham to go to Malta, 
but with means miserably limited. In fact, the ex- 
pedition was at a stand for want of money; when 
Trowbridge, arriving at Messina to co-operate in it, 
and finding this fresh delay, immediately offered all 
that he could command of his own. ** I procured 
him, my lord," said he to Nelson, " fifteen thousand 
of my cobs : — every farthing, and every atom of me, 
shall be devoted to the cause.'* "What can this 
mean? '* said Nelson, when he learnt that Colonel 
Graham was ordered not to incur any expense for 
stores, or any articles except provisions : — ** the cause 
cannot stand still for want of a little money. If no- 
body will pay it, I will sell Bronte, and the Emperor 
of Russia's box.*' And he actually pledged Bront^ 
for ;^6,6oo, if there should be any difficulty about 
paying the bills. The long-delayed expedition was 
thus, at last, sent forth — but Trowbridge little 
imagined in what scenes of misery he was to bear his 
part. He looked to Sicily for supplies ; it was the 
interest, as well as the duty, of the Sicilian Govern- 
ment to use every exertion for furnishing them ; and 
Nelson and the British ambassador were on the spot 
to press upon them the necessity of exertion. But, 
though Nelson saw with what a knavish crew the 
Sicilian court was surrounded, he was blind to the 
vices of the court itself ; and resigning himself wholly 
to Lady Hamilton's influence, never even suspected 
the crooked policy which it was remorselessly pur- 
suing. The Maltese, and the British in Malta, 
severely felt it. Trowbridge, who had the truest 
affection for Nelson, knew his infatuation, and feared 
that it might prove injurious to his character, as 



Life of Nelson 167 

well as fatal to an enterprise which had been begun 
so well, and carried on so patiently. ** My lord," 
said he, writing" to him from the siege, '' we are 
dying off fast for want. I learn that Sir William 
Hamilton says Prince Luzzi refused corn some time 
ago, and Sir- William does not think it worth while 
making another application. If that be the case, I 
wish he commanded at this distressing scene, instead 
*of me. Puglia had an immense harvest : near thirty 
sail left Messina, before I did, to load corn. Will 
they let us have any? If not, a short time will de- 
cide the business. The German interest prevails. I 
wish I was at your lordship's elbow for an hour. Allj 
all, will be thrown on you ! I will parry the blow as 
much as in my power : I foresee much mischief brew- 
ing. God bless your lordship I I am miserable, I 
cannot assist your operations more. Many happy 
returns of this day to you — (it was the first of the 
new year) — I never spent so miserable a one. I am 
not very tender-hearted ; but really the distress here 
would even move a Neapolitan.*' Soon afterwards 
he wrote : "I have this day saved thirty thousand 
people from starving; but with this day my ability 
ceases. As the Government are bent on starving us, 
I see no alternative but to leave these poor unhappy 
people to perish, without our being witnesses to their 
distress. I curse the day I ever served the Nea- 
politan Government. We have characters, my lord, 
to lose : these people have none. Do not suffer their 
infamous conduct to fall on us. Our country is just, 
but severe. Such is the fever of my brain this minute, 
that I assure you, on my honour, if the Palermo 
traitors were here, I would shoot them first, and then 
myself. Girgenti is full of corn ; the money is ready 
to pay for it ; we do not ask it as a gift. Oh ! could 
you see the horrid distress I daily experience, some- 
thing would be done. Some engine is at work 
against us in Naples ; and I believe I hit on the proper 
person. If you complain, he will be immediately pro- 



1 68 Robert Southey s 

moted — agreeably to the Neapolitan custom. All I 
write to you is known at the queen's. For my own 
part, I look upon the Neapolitans as the worst of 
intriguing enemies; every hour shows me their in- 
famy and duplicity. I pray your lordship be cau- 
tious ; your honest, open manner of acting will be 
made a handle of. When I see you, and tell of their 
infamous tricks, you will be as much surprised as I 
am. The whole will fall on you.'* 

Nelson was not, and could not, be insensible to the 
distress which his friend so earnestly represented. 
He begged, almost on his knees, he said, small sup- 
plies of money and corn, to keep the Maltese from 
starving. And when the court granted a small 
supply, protesting their poverty, he believed their 
protestations, and was satisfied with their professions, 
instead of insisting that the restrictions upon the 
exportation of corn should be withdrawn. The 
anxiety, however, which he endured, affected him so 
deeply, that he said it had broken his spirit ior ever. 
Happily all that Trowbridge, with so much reason, 
foreboded, did not come to pass. For Captain Ball, 
with more decision than Nelson himself would have 
shown at that time, and upon that occasion, ventured 
upon a resolute measure, for which his name would 
deserve always to be held in veneration by the Mal- 
tese, even if it had no other claims to the love and 
reverence of a grateful people. Finding it hopeless 
longer to look for succour, or common humanity, 
from the deceitful and infatuated court of Sicily, 
which persisted in prohibiting, by sanguinary edicts, 
the exportation of supplies, at his own risk he sent his 
first lieutenant to the port of Messina, with orders to 
seize, and bring with him to Malta, the ships which 
were there lying laden with corn, of the number of 
which he had received accurate information. These 
orders were executed, to the great delight and ad- 
vantage of the shipowners and proprietors ; the neces- 
sity of raising the siege was removed, and Captain 



Life of Nelson 169 

Ball waited, in calmness, for the consequences to 
himself. ** But," says Mr. Coleridge (who, it is to 
be hoped, will do that full justice to the memory of 
this great man which he is so fully capable of doing), 
'* not a complaint, not a murmur, proceeded from the 
court of Naples. The sole result was that the 
governor of Malta became an especial object of its 
hatred, its fear, and its respect." 

Nelson himself, at the beginning of February, 
sailed for that island. On the way he fell in with a 
French squadron bound for its relief, and consisting 
of the GenereuXy 74, three frigates, and a corvette. 
One of the frigates, and the line-of-battle ship, were 
taken ; the others escaped, but failed in their pur- 
pose of reaching La Valette. This success was 
peculiarly gratifying to Nelson, for many reasons. 
During some months he had acted as commander- 
in-chief in the Mediterranean, while Lord Keith 
was in England. Lord Keith was now returned, 
and Nelson had, upon his own plan, and at 
his own risk, left him, to sail for Malta, — *' for 
which," said he, "if I had not succeeded, I might 
have been broke; — and, if I had not acted thus, the 
Genereux never would have been taken." This ship 
was one of those which had ascaped from Aboukir. 
Two frigates, and the Guillaume Telly 86, were all 
that now remained of the fleet which Buonaparte had 
conducted to Egypt. The Guillaume Tell was at this 
time closely watched in the harbour of La Valette ; 
and shortly afterwards, attempting to make her 
escape from thence, was taken, after an action in 
which greater, skill was never displayed by British 
ships, nor greater gallantry by an enemy. She was 
taken by the Foudroyant, Lion, and Penelope frigate. 
Nelson, rejoicing at what he called this glorious finish 
to the whole French Mediterranean fleet, rejoiced 
also that he was not present, to have taken a sprig 
of these brave men's laurels. " They are," said he, 
" and I glory in them, my children: they served in 



lyo Robert Southeys 

my school ; and all of us caught our professional zeal 
and fire from the great and good Earl St. Vincent. 
What a pleasure, what happiness, to have the Nile 
fleet all taken, under my orders and regulations ! " 
The two frigates still remained in La Valette ; before 
its surrender they stole out : one was taken in the 
attempt; the other was the only ship of the whole 
fleet which escaped capture or destruction. 

Letters were found on board the Guillaume Tell^ 
showing that the French were now become hopeless 
of preserving the conquest which they had so foully 
acquired. Trowbridge, and his brother officers, were 
anxious that Nelson should have the honour of sign- 
ing the capitulation. They told him that they abso- 
lutely, as far as they dared, insisted on his staying to 
do this ; but their earnest and affectionate entreaties 
were vain. Sir William Hamilton had just been 
superseded ; Nelson had no feeling of cordiality to- 
wards Lord Keith; and thinking that, after Earl St. 
Vincent, no man had so good a claim to the com- 
mand in the Mediterranean as himself, he applied for 
permission to return to England, telling the First 
Lord of the Admiralty that his spirit could not submit 
patiently, and that he was a broken-hearted man. 
From the time of his return from Egypt, amid all 
the honours which were showered upon him, he had 
suffered many mortifications. Sir Sidney Smith had 
been sent to Egypt, with orders to take under his 
command the squadron which Nelson had left there. 
Sir Sidney appears to have thought that this com- 
mand was to be independent of Nelson ; and Nelson 
himself thinking so, determined to return, saying to 
Earl St. Vincent, *' I do feel, for I am man, that it 
is impossible for me to serve in these seas with a 
squadron under a junior officer." Earl St. Vincent 
seems to have dissuaded him from this resolution; 
some heartburnings, however, still remained, and 
some incautious expressions of Sir Sidney's were 
noticed by him in terms of evident displeasure. But 



Life of Nelson 171 

this did not continue long; and no man bore more 
willing testimony than Nelson to the admirable de- 
fence of Acre. 

He differed from Sir Sidney as to the policy which 
ought to be pursued toward the French in Egypt; 
and strictly commanded him, in the strongest lan- 
guage, not, on any pretence, to permit a single 
Frenchman to leave the country ; saying, that he 
considered it nothing short of madness to permit that 
band of thieves to return to Europe. ** No," said 
he; ** to Egypt they went with their own consent, 
and there they shall remain while Nelson commands 
this squadron ; — for never, never, will he consent to 
the return of one ship or Frenchman. I wish them 
to perish in Egypt, and give an awful lesson to the 
world of the justice of the Almighty." If Nelson had 
not thoroughly understood the character of the enemy 
against whom he was engaged, their conduct in Egypt 
would have disclosed it. After the battle of the Nile 
he had landed all his prisoners, upon a solemn en- 
gagement, made between Trowbridge on one side, 
and Captain Barr6 on the other, that none of them 
should serve till regularly exchanged. They were no 
sooner on shore than part of them were drafted into 
the different regiments, and the remainder formed into 
a corps, called the Nautic Legion. This occasioned 
Captain Hallowell to say, that the French had for- 
feited all claim to respect from us. ** The army of 
Buonaparte," said he, *' are entirely destitute of every 
principle of honour; they have always acted like 
licentious thieves." Buonaparte's escape was the 
more regretted by Nelson, because, if he had had 
sufficient force, he thought it would certainly have 
been prevented. He wished to keep ships upon the 
watch, to intercept anything coming from Egypt ; but 
the Admiralty calculated upon the assistance of the 
Russian fleet, which failed when it was most wanted. 
The ships which should have been thus employed 
were then required for more pressing services; and 



172 Robert Southey's 

the bloody Corsican was thus enabled to reach Europe 
in safety — there to become the guilty instrument of a 
wider-spreading- destruction than any with which the 
world had ever before been visited. 

Nelson had other causes of chagrin. Earl St. Vin- 
cent, for whom he felt such high respect, and whom 
Sir John Orde had challenged for having nominated 
Nelson, instead of himself, to the command of the 
Nile squadron, laid claim to prize-money, as com- 
mander-in-chief, after he had quitted the station. The 
point was contested, and decided against him. Nel- 
son, perhaps, felt this the more, because his own 
feelings, with regard to money, were so different. 
An opinion had been given by Dr. Lawrence, which 
would have excluded the junior flag-officers from 
prize-money. When this was made known to him, 
his reply was in these words : ** Notwithstanding Dr. 
Lawrence's opinion, I do not believe I have any right 
to exclude the junior flag-officers ; and if I have, I 
desire that no such claim may be made ; — no, not if 
it were sixty times the sum, and, poor as I am, I 
were never to see prize-money." 

A ship could not be spared to convey him to Eng- 
land ; he therefore travelled through Germany to 
Hamburgh, in company v/ith his inseparable friends. 
Sir William and Lady Hamilton. The Queen of 
Naples went with them to Vienna. While they were 
at Leghorn, upon a report that the French were ap- 
proaching (for, through the folly of weak courts, and 
the treachery of venal cabinets, they had now re- 
covered their ascendency in Italy), the people rose 
tumultuously, and would fain have persuaded Nelson 
to lead them against the enemy. Public honours, and 
yet more gratifying testimonials of public admira- 
tion, awaited Nelson wherever he went. The Prince 
of Esterhazy entertained him in a style of Hungarian 
magnificence, a hundred grenadiers, each six feet in 
height, constantly waiting at table. At Magdeburg, 
the master of the hotel where he was entertained con- 



Life of Nelson 173 

trived to show him for money ; admitting the curious 
to mount a ladder, and peep at him through a small 
window. A wine-merchant at Hamburgh, who was 
above seventy years of age, requested to speak with 
Lady Hamilton; and told her he had some Rhenish 
wine, of the vintage of 1625, which had been 
in his own possession more than half a century ; he 
had preserved it for some extraordinary occasion ; 
and that which had now arrived was far beyond any 
that he could ever have expected. His request was, 
that her ladyship would prevail upon Lord Nelson to 
accept six dozen of this incomparable wine : part of it 
would then have the honour to flow into the heart's 
blood of that immortal hero, and this thought would 
make him happy during the remainder of his life. 
Nelson, when this singular request was reported to 
him, went into the room, and taking the worthy old 
gentleman kindly by the hand, consented to receive six 
bottles, provided the donor would dine with him next 
day. Twelve were sent; and Nelson, saying that he 
hoped yet to win half a dozen more great victories, 
promised to lay by six bottles of his Hamburgh 
friend's wine, for the purpose of drinking one after 
each. A German pastor, between seventy and eighty 
years of age, travelled forty miles, with the Bible of 
his parish church, to request that Nelson would write 
his name on the first leaf of it. He called him the 
saviour of the Christian world. The old man's hope 
deceived him. There was no Nelson upon shore, or 
Europe would have been saved ; but, in his foresight 
of the horrors with which all Germany and all Chris- 
tendom were threatened by France, the pastor could 
not possibly have apprehended more than has actually 
taken place. 



174 Robert Southeys 



CHAPTER VII 

Nelson was welcomed in England with every mark 
of popular honour. At Yarmouth, where he landed, 
every ship in the harbour hoisted her colours. The 
mayor and corporation waited upon him with the free- 
dom of the town, and accompanied him in procession 
to church, with all the naval officers on shore, and 
the principal inhabitants. Bonfires and illuminations 
concluded the day ; and, on the morrow, the volunteer 
cavalry drew up and saluted him as he departed, and 
followed the carriage to the borders of the county. 
At Ipswich the people came out to meet him, drew 
him a mile into the town, and three miles out. When 
he was in the Agamemnon he wished to represent 
this place in Parliament, and some of his friends had 
consulted the leading men of the corporation : the 
result was not successful; and Nelson, observing that 
he would endeavour to find a preferable path into Par- 
liament, said there might come a time when the people 
of Ipswich would think it an honour to have had 
him for their representative. In London he was 
feasted by the City, drawn by the populace from 
Ludgate Hill to Guildhall, and received the thanks 
of the Common Council for his great victory, and a 
golden-hilted sword studded with diamonds. Nelson 
had every earthly blessing except domestic happi- 
ness : he had forfeited that for ever. Before he had 
been three months in England he separated from Lady 
Nelson. Some of his last words to her were: ** I 
call God to witness, there is nothing in you, or your 
conduct, that I wish otherwise.'* This was the con- 
sequence of his infatuated attachment to Lady Hamil- 
ton. It had before caused a quarrel with his step- 
son, and occasioned remonstrances from his truest 
friends, which produced no other effect than that of 
making him displeased with them, and more dissatis- 
fied with himself. 



Life of Nelson 175 

The Addington administration was just at this time 
formed ; and Nelson, who had solicited employment, 
and been made vice-admiral of the blue, was sent to 
the Baltic, as second in command, under Sir Hyde 
Parker, by Earl St. Vincent, the new First Lord of 
the Admiralty. The three northern courts had formed 
a confederacy for making England resign her naval 
rights. Of these courts, Russia was guided by the 
passions of its emperor, Paul ; a man not without fits 
of generosity and some natural goodness, but subject 
to the wildest humours of caprice, and crazed by the 
possession of greater power than can ever be safely, 
or, perhaps, innocently, possessed by weak humanity. 
Denmark was French at heart; ready to co-operate 
in all the views of France, to recognise all her usur- 
pations, and obey all her injunctions. Sweden, under 
a king whose principles were right and whose feel- 
ings were generous, but who had a taint of hereditary 
insanity, acted in acquiescence to the dictates of two 
powers, whom it feared to offend. The Danish navy, 
at this time, consisted of twenty-three ships of the 
line, with about thirty-one frigates, and smaller ves- 
sels, exclusive of guard-ships. The Swedes had 
eighteen ships of the line, fourteen frigates and sloops, 
seventy-four galleys and smaller vessels, besides gun- 
boats : and this force was in a far better state of 
equipment than the Danish. The Russians had eighty- 
two sail of the line and forty frigates. Of these, 
there were forty-seven sail of the line at Cronstadt, 
Revel, Petersburgh, and Archangel : but the Russian 
fleet was ill-manned, ill-officered, and ill-equipped. 
Such a combination, under the influence of France, 
would soon have become formidable; and never did 
the British Cabinet display more decision than in in- 
stantly preparing to crush it. They erred, however, 
in permitting any petty consideration to prevent 
them from appointing Nelson to the command. The 
public properly murmured at seeing it intrusted to 
another : and he himself said to Earl St. Vincent, 



176 Robert Southey's 

that, circumstanced as he was, this expedition would 
probably be the last service that he should ever per- 
form. The Earl, in reply, besought him, for God's 
sake, not to suffer himself to be carried away by any 
sudden impulse. 

The season happened to be unusually favourable : 
so mild a winter had npt been known in the Baltic 
for many years. When Nelson joined the fleet at 
Yarmouth, he found the admiral *' a little nervous 
about dark nights and fields of ice." '* But we must 
brace up," said he; '* these are not times for nervous 
systems. I hope we shall give our northern enemies 
that hailstorm of bullets which gives our dear country 
the dominion of the sea. We have it, and all the 
devils in the North cannot take it from us if our 
wooden walls have fair play." Before the fleet left 
Yarmouth, it was sufficiently known that its destina- 
tion was against Denmark. Some Danes who be- 
longed to the Amazon frigate, went to Captain Riou, 
and telling him what they had heard, begged that he 
would get them exchanged into a ship bound on some 
other destination. ''They had no wish," they said, 
" to quit the British service; but they entreated that 
they might not be forced to fight against their own 
country. ' * There was not in our whole navy a man 
who had a higher and more chivalrous sense of duty 
than Riou. Tears came into his eyes while the men 
were speaking : without making any reply, he in- 
stantly ordered his boat, and did not return to the 
Amazon till he could tell them that their wish was 
effected. 

The fleet sailed on the 12th of March. Mr. Van- 
sittart sailed in it, the British Cabinet still hoping to 
obtain its end by negotiation. It was well for Eng- 
land that Sir Hyde Parker placed a fuller confidence 
in Nelson than the Government seems to have done 
at this most important crisis. Her enemies might 
well have been astonished at learning that any other 
man should, for a moment, have been thought of for 



Life of Nelson 177 

the command. But so little deference was paid, even 
at this time, to his intuitive and all-commanding 
genius, that when the fleet had reached its first ren- 
dezvous, at the entrance of the Cattegat, he had re- 
ceived no official communication whatever of the in- 
tended operations. His own mind had been made up 
upon them with its accustomed decision. *' All I 
have gathered of our first plans," said he, '* I dis- 
approve most exceedingly. Honour may arise from 
them ; good cannot. I hear we are likely to anchor 
outside of Cronenburg Castle, instead of Copenhagen, 
which would give weight to our negotiation. A 
Danish minister would think twice before he would 
put his name to war with England, when the next 
moment he would probably see his master's fleet in 
flames, and his capital in ruins. The Dane should 
see our flag every moment he lifted up his head." 

Mr. Vansittart left the fleet at the Scaw, and pre- 
ceded it in a frigate, with a flag of truce. Precious 
time was lost by this delay, which was to be pur- 
chased by the dearest blood of Britain and of Den- 
mark : according to the Danes themselves, the intel- 
ligence that a British fleet was seen off the Sound pro- 
duced a much more general alarm in Copenhagen than 
its actual arrival in the roads ; for their means of de- 
fence were, at that time, in such a state, that they 
could hardly hope to resist, still less to repel, an 
enemy. On the 21st Nelson had a long conference 
with Sir Hyde; and the next day addressed a letter 
to him, worthy of himself and of the occasion. Mr. 
Vansittart 's report had then been received. It repre- 
sented the Danish Government as in the highest de- 
gree hostile, and their state of preparation as ex- 
ceeding what our Cabinet had supposed possible : for 
Denmark had profited, with all activity, of the leisure 
which had so impoliticly been given her. '* The 
more I have reflected," said Nelson to his com- 
mander, ** the more I am confirmed in opinion, that 
not a moment should be lost in attacking the enemy. 



178 Robert Southeys 

They will every day and hour be stronger : we never 
shall be so good a match for them as at this moment. 
The only consideration is, how to get at them with 
the least risk to our ships. Here you are, with almost 
the safety — certainly with the honour — of England 
more intrusted to you than ever yet fell to the lot of 
any British officer. On your decision depends whether 
our country shall be degraded in the eyes of Europe, 
or whether she shall rear her head higher than ever. 
Again do I repeat, never did our country depend so 
much on the success of any fleet as on this. How 
best to honour her and abate the pride of her enemies, 
must be the subject of your deepest consideration." 

Supposing him to force the passage of the Sound, 
Nelson thought some damage might be done among 
the masts and yards ; though, perhaps, not one of 
them but would be serviceable again. " If the wind 
be fair,'* said he, ** and you determine to attack the 
ships and Crown Islands, you must expect the natural 
issue of such a battle — ships crippled, and, perhaps, 
one or two lost; for the wind which carries you in 
will, most probably, not bring out a crippled ship. 
This mode I call taking the bull by the horns. It, 
however, will not prevent the Revel ships, or the 
Swedes, from joining the Danes : and to prevent this 
is, in my humble opinion, a measure absolutely neces- 
sary; and still to attack Copenhagen.'* For this he 
proposed two modes. One was to pass Cronenburg, 
taking the risk of danger; take the deepest and 
straitest channel along the Middle Grounds ; and then 
coming down the Garbar, or King's Channel, attack 
the Danish line of floating batteries and ships, as 
might be found convenient. This would prevent the 
junction, and might give an opportunity of bombard- 
ing Copenhagen. Or to take the passage of the Belt, 
which might be accomplished in four or five days ; 
and then the attack by Draco might be made, and 
the junction of the Russians prevented. Supposing 
them through the Belt, he proposed that a detachment 



Life of Nelson 179 

of the fleet should be sent to destroy the Russian 
squadron at Revel; and that the business at Copen- 
hagen should be attempted with the remainder. " The 
measure," he said, ** may be thought bold; but the 
boldest measures are the safest." 

The pilots, as men who had nothing but safety to 
think of, were terrified by the formidable report of 
the batteries of Elsineur, and the tremendous pre- 
parations which our negotiators, who were now 
returned from their fruitless mission, had witnessed. 
They, therefore, persuaded Sir Hyde to prefer the 
passage of the Belt. ** Let it be by the Sound, by 
the Belt, or anyhow," cried Nelson, "only lose not 
an hour ! " On the 26th they sailed for the Belt, 
but, after a few hours, this resolution was changed, 
and the fleet returned to its former anchorage. The 
difficulty of the course is said to have been one 
reason; Nelson's advice another. The next day was 
more idly expended in despatching a flag of truce to 
the governor of Cronenburg Castle, to ask whether 
he had received orders to fire at the British fleet; 
as the admiral must consider the first gun to be a 
declaration of war on the part of Denmark. A 
soldier-like and becoming answer was returned to this 
formality. The governor said that the British 
minister had not been sent away from Copenhagen, 
but had obtained a passport at his own demand. He 
himself, as a soldier, could not meddle with politics; 
but he was not at liberty to suffer a fleet, of which 
the intention was not yet known, to approach the 
guns of the castle which he had the honour to com- 
mand ; and he requested, if the British admiral should 
think proper to make any proposals to the King of 
Denmark, that he might be apprised of it before the 
fleet approached nearer. During this intercourse, a 
Dane, who came on board the commander's ship, 
having occasion to express his business in writing, 
found the pen blunt; and, holding it up, sarcastically 
said : ** If your guns are not better pointed than your 



i8o Robert Sou they 's 

pens, you will make little impression on Copen- 
hagen ! " 

On that day intelligence reached the admiral of 
the loss of one of his fleet, the Invincible, 74, wrecked 
on a sandbank as she was coming out of Yarmouth, 
400 of her men perishing in her. Nelson, who was 
now appointed to lead the van, shifted his flag to 
the Elephant, Captain Foley, a lighter ship than the 
St. George, and therefore fitter for the expected 
operations. The two following days were calm. 
Orders had been given to pass the Sound as soon as 
the wind would permit; and, on the afternoon of the 
29th, the ships were cleared for action, with an 
alacrity characteristic of British seamen. At day- 
break, on the 30th, it blew a top-sail breeze from 
N.W. The signal was made, and the fleet moved on 
in order of battle — Nelson's division in the van. Sir 
Hyde's in the centre, and Admiral Graves' in the 
rear. 

Great actions, whether military or naval, have 
generally given celebrity to the scenes from whence 
they are denominated; and thus petty villages, and 
capes, and bays, known only to the coasting trader, 
become associated with mighty deeds, and their 
names are made conspicuous in the history of the 
world. Here, however, the scene was every way 
worthy of the drama. The political importance of the 
Sound is such, that grand objects are not needed 
there to impress the imagination; yet is the channel 
full of grand and interesting objects, both of art 
and nature. This passage, which Denmark had so 
long considered as the key of the Baltic, is, in its 
narrowest part, about three miles wide; and here the 
city of Elsineur is situated; except Copenhagen, the 
most flourishing of the Danish towns. Every vessel 
which passes lowers her top-gallant-sails, and pays 
toll at Elsineur : a toll which is believed to have had 
its origin in the consent of the traders to that sea, 
Denmark taking upon itself the charge of construct- 



Life of Nelson i8i 

ing lighthouses, and erecting signals, to mark the 
shoals and rocks from the Cattegat to the Baltic : 
and they, on their part, agreeing that all ships should 
pass this way, in order that all might pay their 
shares : none from that time using the passage of 
the Belt; because it was not fitting that they, who 
enjoyed the benefit of the beacons in dark and stormy 
weather, should evade contributing to them in faix- 
seasons and summer nights. Of late years about ten 
thousand vessels had annually paid this contribution 
in time of peace. Adjoining Elsineur, and at the edge 
of a peninsular promontory, upon the nearest point of 
land to the Swedish coast, stands Cronenburg Castle, 
built after Tycho Brahe's design — a magnificent pile 
— at once a palace, and fortress, and state prison, 
with its spires and towers, and battlements and bat- 
teries. On the left of the strait is the old Swedish 
city of Helsingburg, at the foot, and on the side of a 
hill. To the north of Helsingburg the shores are 
steep and rocky; they lower to the south; and the 
distant spires of Landscrona, Lund, and Malmoe are 
seen in the flat country. The Danish shores consist 
partly of ridges of sand; but more frequently their 
slopes are covered with rich wood, and villages and 
villas, denoting the vicinity of a great capital. The 
isles of Huen, Saltholm, and Amak, appear in the 
widening channel ; and at the distance of twenty miles 
from Elsineur stands Copenhagen, in full view — the 
best built city of the North, and one of the finest 
capitals of Europe, visible, with its stately spires, far 
off. Amid these magnificent objects, there are some 
which possess a peculiar interest for the recollections 
which they call forth. The isle of Huen, a lovely 
domain, about six miles in circumference, had been 
the munificent gift of Frederic the Second to Tycho 
Brahe. Here most of his discoveries were made; 
and here the ruins are to be seen of his observatory, 
and of the mansion where he was visited by princes, 
and where, with a princely spirit, he received and 



1 82 Robert Southey's 

entertained all comers from all parts, and promoted 
science by his liberality, as well as by his labours. 
Elsineur is a name familiar to Engflish ears, being 
inseparably associated with Hamlety and one of the 
noblest works of human genius. Cronenburg had 
been the scene of deeper tragedy : here Queen 
Matilda was confined, the victim of a foul and mur- 
derous court intrigue. Here, amid heart-breaking 
griefs, she found consolation in nursing her infant. 
Here she took her everlasting leave of that infant, 
when, by the interference of England, her own deliver- 
ance was obtained; and, as the ship bore her away 
from a country, where the venial indiscretions of 
youth and unsuspicious gaiety had been so cruelly 
punished, upon these towers she fixed her eyes, and 
stood upon the deck, obstinately gazing toward them 
till the last speck had disappeared. 

The Sound being the only frequented entrance to 
the Baltic, the great Mediterranean of the North, 
few parts of the sea display so frequent a navigation. 
In the height of the season, not fewer than an hundred 
vessels pass every four-and-twenty hours, for many 
weeks in succession; but never had so busy or so 
splendid a scene been exhibited there as on this day, 
when the British fleet prepared to force that passage, 
where, till now, all ships had vailed their top-sails 
to the flag of Denmark. The whole force consisted 
of fifty-one sail, of various descriptions, of which 
sixteen were of the line. The greater part of the 
bomb and gun vessels took their station off Cronen- 
burg Castle, to cover the fleet; while others, on the 
larboard, were ready to engage the Swedish shore. 
The Danes, having improved every moment which 
ill-timed negotiation and baffling weather gave them, 
had lined their shore with batteries ; and as soon as 
the Monarchy which was the leading ship, came 
abreast of them, a fire was opened from about a 
hundred pieces of cannon and mortars : our light 
vessels immediately, in return, opened their fire upon 



Life of Nelson 183 

the castle. Here was all the pompous circumstance 
and exciting reality of war, without its effects; for 
this ostentatious display was but a bloodless prelude 
to the wide and sweeping destruction which was soon 
to follow. The enemy's shot fell near enough to 
splash the water on board our ships : not relying upon 
any forbearance of the Swedes, they meant to have 
kept the mid channel : but, when they perceived that 
not a shot was fired from Helsingburg, and that no 
batteries were to be seen on the Swedish shore, they 
inclined to that side, so as completely to get out of 
reach of the Danish guns. The uninterrupted blaze 
which was kept up from them till the fleet had passed, 
served only to exhilarate our sailors, and afford them 
matter for jest, as the shot fell in showers a full 
cable's length short of its destined aim. A few 
rounds were returned from some of our leading ships, 
till they perceived its inutility; — this, however, occa- 
sioned the only bloodshed of the day, some of our 
men being killed and wounded by the bursting of a 
gun. As soon as the main body had passed, the gun 
vessels followed, desisting from their bombardment, 
which had been as innocent as that of the enemy ; 
and, about mid-day, the whole fleet anchored between 
the island of Huen and Copenhagen. Sir Hyde, with 
Nelson, Admiral Graves, some of the senior captains, 
and the commanding officers of the artillery and the 
troops, then proceeded in a lugger to reconnoitre the 
enemy's means of defence; a formidable line of ships, 
radeaus, pontoons, galleys, fire-ships, and gunboats, 
flanked and supported by extensive batteries, and 
occupying, from one extreme point to the other, an 
extent of nearly four miles. 

A council of war was held in the afternoon. It was 
apparent that the Danes could not be attacked with- 
out great difficulty and risk; and some of the mem- 
bers of the council spoke of the number of the Swedes 
and the Russians, whom they should afterwards have 
to engage, as a consideration which ought to be 



184 Robert Southeys 

borne in mind. Nelson, who kept pacing- the cabin, 
impatient as he ever was of anything which savoured 
of irresolution, repeatedly said, '* The more numerous 
the better : I wish they were twice as many, — the 
easier the victory, depend on it." The plan upon 
which he had determined, if ever it should be his 
fortune to bring a Baltic fleet to action, was to attack 
the head of their line, and confuse their movements. 
"Close with a Frenchman," he used to say, "but 
out-mano3uvre a Russian." He offered his services 
for the attack, requiring ten sail of the line, and the 
whole of the smaller craft. Sir Hyde gave him two 
more line of battle ships than he asked, and left every- 
thing to his judgment. 

The enemy's force was not the only, nor the 
greatest, obstacle with which the British fleet had to 
contend : there was another to be overcome before 
they could come in contact with it. The channel was 
little known, and extremely intricate; all the buoys 
had been removed; and the Danes considered this 
difficulty as almost insuperable, thinking the channel 
impracticable for so large a fleet. Nelson himself 
saw the soundings made and the buoys laid down, 
boating it upon this exhausting service, day and 
night, till it was effected. When this was done, he 
thanked God for having enabled him to get through 
this difficult part of his duty. ** It had worn him 
down," he said, " and was infinitely more grievous 
to him than any resistance which he could experience 
from the enemy." 

At the first council of war, opinions inclined to an 
attack from the eastward : but the next day, the wind 
being southerly, after a second examination of the 
Danish position, it was determined to attack from 
the south, approaching in the manner which Nelson 
had suggested in his first thoughts. On the morn- 
ing of the I St of April, the whole fleet removed to an 
anchorage within two leagues of the town, and off 
the N.W. end of the Middle Ground, a shoal lying 



Life of Nelson 185 

exactly before the town, at about three-quarters of a 
mile distance, and extending along its whole sea- 
front. The King's Channel, where there is deep 
water, is between this shoal and the town; and here 
the Danes had arranged their line of defence, as near 
the shore as possible; — nineteen ships and floating 
batteries, flanked, at the end nearest the town, by 
the Crown Batteries, which were two artificial islands 
at the mouth of the harbour, — most formidable 
works ; the larger one having, by the Danish account, 
sixty-six guns ; but, as Nelson believed, eighty-eight. 
The fleet having anchored, Nelson with Riou in the 
Amazon made his last examination of the ground ; 
and, about one o'clock, returning to his own ship, 
threw out the signal to weigh. It was received with 
a shout throughout the whole division; they weighed 
with a light and favourable wind ; the narrow channel 
between the island of Saltholm and the Middle Ground 
had been accurately buoyed; the small craft pointed 
out the course distinctly ; Riou led the way : the whole 
division coasted along the outer edge of the shoal, 
doubled its farther extremity, and anchored there off 
Draco Point just as the darkness closed, the head- 
most of the enemy's line not being more than two 
miles distant. The signal to prepare for action had 
been made early in the evening; and, as his own 
anchor dropped, Nelson called out, ** I will fight them 
the moment I have a fair wind." It had been agreed 
that Sir Hyde, with the remaining ships, should 
weigh on the following morning, at the same time as 
Nelson, to menace the Crown Batteries on his side, 
and the four ships of the line which lay at the entrance 
of the arsenal; and to cover our own disabled ships 
as they came out of action. 

The Danes, meantime, had not been idle : no sooner 
did the guns of Cronenburg make it known to the whole 
city that all negotiation was at an end, that the British 
fleet was passing the Sound, and that the dispute 
between the two crowns must now be decided by arms, 



1 86 Robert Southey s 

than a spirit displayed itself most honourable to the 
Danish character. All ranks offered themselves to 
the service of their country; the university furnished 
a corps of twelve hundred youths, the flower of Den- 
mark : — it was one of those emergencies in which 
little drilling or discipline is necessary to render 
courage available; they had nothing to learn but how 
to manage the guns, and day and night were employed 
in practising them. When the movements of Nel- 
son's squadron were perceived, it was known when 
and where the attack was to be expected, and the 
line of defence was manned indiscriminately by 
soldiers, sailors, and citizens. Had not the whole 
attention of the Danes been directed to strengthen 
their own means of defence, they might most 
materially have annoyed the invading squadron, and, 
perhaps, frustrated the impending attack; for the 
British ships were crowded in an anchoring-ground 
of little extent; it was calm, so that mortar-boats 
might have acted against them to the utmost 
advantage ; and they were within range of shells from 
Amak Island. A few fell among them; but the 
enemy soon ceased to fire. It was learnt afterwards, 
that, fortunately for the fleet, the bed of the mortar 
had given way; and the Danes either could not get 
it replaced, or, in the darkness, lost the direction. 

This was an awful night for Copenhagen, — far 
more so than for the British fleet^ where the men were 
accustomed to battle and victory, and had none of 
those objects before their eyes which render death 
terrible. Nelson sat down to table with a large party 
of his officers; he was, as he was ever wont to be 
when on the eve of action, in high spirits, and drank 
to a leading wind, and to the success of the morrow. 
After supper they returned to their respective ships, 
except Riou, who remained to arrange the order of 
battle with Nelson and Foley, and to draw up instruc- 
tions ; Hardy, meantime, went in a small boat to 
examine the channel between them and the enemy; 



Life of Nelson 187 

approaching so near that he sounded round their 
leading ship with a pole, lest the noise of throwing 
the lead should discover him. The incessant fatigue 
of body, as well as mind, which Nelson had under- 
gone during the last three days, had so exhausted 
him that he was earnestly urged to go to his cot; 
and his old servant, Allen, using that kind of authority 
which long and affectionate services entitled and 
enabled him to assume on such occasions, insisted 
upon his complying. The cot was placed on the floor, 
and he continued to dictate from it. About eleven 
Hardy returned, and reported the practicability of 
the channel, and the depth of water up to the enemy's 
line. About one, the orders were completed; and 
half a dozen clerks, in the foremost cabin, proceeded 
to transcribe them. Nelson frequently calling out to 
them from his cot to hasten their work, for the wind 
was becoming fair. Instead of attempting to get a 
few hours of sleep, he was constantly receiving 
reports upon this important point. At daybreak it 
was announced as becoming perfectly fair. The 
clerks finished their work about six. Nelson, who 
was already up, breakfasted, and made signal for all 
captains. The land forces, and five hundred seamen, 
under Captain Freemantle and the Honourable 
Colonel Stewart, were to storm the Crown Battery as 
soon as its fire should be silenced ; and Riou, — whom 
Nelson had never seen till this expedition, but whose 
worth he had instantly perceived, and appreciated as 
it deserved, — had the Blanche and Alcmene frigates, 
the Dart and Arrow sloops, and the Zephyr and Otter 
fire-ships, given him, with a special command to act 
as circumstances might require; — every other ship 
had its station appointed. 

Between eight and nine the pilots and masters were 
ordered on board the admiral's ship. The pilots were 
mostly men who had been mates in Baltic traders ; 
and their hesitation about the bearing of the east end 
of the shoal, and the exact line of deep water, gave 



1 88 Robert Southeys 

ominous warning of how little their knowledge was 
to be trusted. The signal for action had been made, 
the wind was fair — not a moment to be lost. Nelson 
urged them to be steady — to be resolute, and to 
decide ; — but they wanted the only ground for steadi- 
ness and decision in such cases; and Nelson had 
reason to regret that he had not trusted to Hardy's 
single report. This was one of the most painful 
moments of his life, and he always spoke of it with 
bitterness. ** I experienced in the Sound," said he, 
* * the misery of having the honour of our country 
intrusted to a set of pilots, who have no other thought 
than to keep the ships clear of danger, and their own 
silly heads clear of shot. Everybody knows what I 
must have suffered; and if any merit attaches itself 
to me, it was for combating the dangers of the 
shallows in defiance of them." At length Mr. Bryerly, 
the master of the Bellona^ declared that he was pre- 
pared to lead the fleet : his judgment was acceded to 
by the rest : they returned to their ships, and, at 
half-past nine, the signal was made to weigh in 
succession. 

Captain Murray, in the Edgar ^ led the way; the 
Agamemnon was next in order; but, on the first 
attempt to leave her anchorage, she could not weather 
the edge of the shoal, and Nelson had the grief to see 
his old ship, in which he had performed so many 
years' gallant services, immoveably aground, at a 
moment when her help was so greatly required. 
Signal was then made for the Polyphemus , and this 
change in the order of sailing was executed with the 
utmost promptitude : yet so much delay had thus 
been unavoidably occasioned, that the Edgar was for 
some time unsupported : and the Polyphemus ^ whose 
place should have been at the end of the enemy's 
line where their strength was the greatest, could get 
no further than the beginning, owing to the difficulty 
of the channel : there she occupied, indeed, an efficient 
station, but one where her presence was less required. 



Life of Nelson 189 

The Isis followed, with better fortune, and took her 
own berth. The Belloruif Sir Thomas Boulden 
Thompson, kept too close on the starboard shoal, and 
grounded abreast of the outer ship of the enemy : 
this was the more vexatious, inasmuch as the wind 
was fair, the room ample, and three ships had led 
the way. The Russell, following the Bellonay 
grounded in like manner : both were within reach of 
shot; but their absence from their intended stations 
was severely felt. Each ship had been ordered to 
pass her leader on the starboard side, because the 
water was supposed to shoal on the larboard shore. 
Nelson, who came next after these two ships, thought 
they had kept too far on the starboard direction, and 
made signal for them to close with the enemy, not 
knowing that they were aground : but, when he per- 
ceived that they did not obey the signal, he ordered 
the Elephant's helm to starboard, and went within 
these ships : thus quitting the appointed order of 
sailing, and guiding those which were to follow. 
The greater part of the fleet were probably, by this 
act of promptitude on his part, saved from going on 
shore. Each ship, as she arrived nearly opposite to 
her appointed station, let her anchor go by the stern, 
and presented her broadside to the Danes. The 
distance between each was about a half-cable. The 
action was fought nearly at the distance of a cable's 
length from the enemy. This, which rendered its 
continuance so long, was owing to the ignorance 
and consequent indecision of the pilots. In pursu- 
ance of the same error which had led the Bellona and 
the Russell aground, they, when the lead was at a 
quarter less five, refused to approach nearer, in dread 
of shoaling their water on the larboard shore : a fear 
altogether erroneous, for the water deepened up to 
the very side of the enemy's line. 

At five minutes after ten the action began. The 
first half of our fleet was engaged in about half an 
hour; and by half-past eleven the battle became 



190 Robert Southey's 

general. The plan of the attack had been complete : 
but seldom has any plan been more disconcerted by 
untoward accidents. Of twelve ships of the line, one 
was entirely useless, and two others in a situation 
where they could not render half the service which 
was required of them. Of the squadron of gun-brigs 
only one could get into action : the rest were pre- 
vented, by baffling currents, from weathering the 
eastern end of the shoal; and only two of the bomb- 
vessels could reach their station on the Middle 
Ground, and open their mortars on the arsenal, firing 
over both fleets. Riou took the vacant station against 
the Crown Battery, with his frigates; attempting, 
with that unequal force, a service in which three sail 
of the line had been directed to assist. 

Nelson's agitation had been extreme when he saw 
himself, before the action began, deprived of a fourth 
part of his ships of the line. But no sooner was he 
in battle, where his squadron was received with the 
fire of more than a thousand guns, than, as if that 
artillery, like music, had driven away all care and 
painful thoughts, his countenance brightened ; and, 
as a bystander describes him, his conversation 
became joyous, animated, elevated, and delightful. 
The commander-in-chief, meantime near enough to 
the scene of action to know the unfavourable acci- 
dents which had so materially weakened Nelson, and 
yet too distant to know the real state of the contend- 
ing parties, suffered the most dreadful anxiety. To 
get to his assistance was impossible; both wind and 
current were against him. Fear for the event, in such 
circumstances, would naturally preponderate in the 
bravest mind ; and, at one o'clock, perceiving that, 
after three hours' endurance, the enemy's fire was 
unslackened, he began to despair of success; and 
thinking it became him to save what he could from 
the hopeless contest, he made signal for retreat. 
Nelson was now in all the excitement of action, pacing 
the quarter-deck. A shot through the mainmast 



Life of Nelson 191 

knocked the splinters about; and he observed to one 
of his officers, with a smile : " It is warm work; and 
this day may be the last to any of us at a moment ' * : 
— and then stopping short at the gangway, added, 
with emotion — ** But mark you: I would not be 
elsewhere for thousands." About this time the signal 
lieutenant called out that No. 39 (the signal for dis- 
continuing the action) was thrown out by the com- 
mander-in-chief. He continued to walk the deck, and 
appeared to take no notice of it. The signal officer 
met him at the next turn, and asked if he should 
repeat it. "No," he replied; "acknowledge it." 
Presently he called after him, to know if the signal 
for close action was still hoisted, and being answered 
in the affirmative, said, ** Mind you keep it so." He 
now paced the deck, moving the stump of his lost 
arm in a manner which always indicated great emo- 
tion. ** Do you know," said he to Mr. Ferguson, 
"what is shown on board the commander-in-chief? 
No. 39 ! " Mr. Ferguson asked what that meant? — 
* * Why, to leave off action ! ' ' Then shrugging up 
his shoulders, he repeated the words — " Leave off 
action ! Now damn me if I do ! You know, Foley," 
turning to the captain, " I have only one eye, — I 
have a right to be blind sometimes," — and then 
putting the glass to his blind eye, in that mood of 
mind which sports with bitterness, he exclaimed, " I 
really do not see the signal ! ' ' Presently he ex- 
claimed, " Damn the signal ! Keep mine for closer 
battle flying I That's the way I answer such signals. 
Nail mine to the mast!" Admiral Graves, who was 
so situated that he could not discern what was done 
on board the Elephant y disobeyed Sir Hyde's signal 
in like manner : whether by fortunate mistake, or by 
a like brave intention, has not been made known. 
The other ships of the line, looking only to Nelson, 
continued the action. The signal, however, saved 
Riou's little squadron, but did not save its heroic 
leader. This squadron, which was nearest the com- 



192 Robert Southey*s 

mander-in-chief, obeyed, and hauled off. It had 
suffered severely in its most unequal contest. For a 
long time the Amazon had been firing, enveloped in 
smoke, when Riou desired his men to stand fast and 
let the smoke clear off, that they might see what they 
were about. A fatal order; for the Danes then got 
clear sight of her from the batteries, and pointed 
their guns with such tremendous effect that nothing 
but the signal for retreat saved this frigate from 
destruction. **What will Nelson think of us! " was 
Riou's mournful exclamation when he unwillingly 
drew off. He had been wounded in the head by a 
splinter, and was sitting on a gun, encouraging his 
men, when, just as the Amazon showed her stern to 
the Trekroner battery, his clerk was killed by his 
side, and another shot swept away several marines 
who were hauling in the mainbrace. ** Come then, 
my boys ! " cried Riou, ** let us die all together ! " 
The words had scarcely been uttered, before a raking 
shot cut him in two. Except it had been Nelson him- 
self, the British navy could not have suffered a 
severer loss. 

The action continued along the line with unabated 
vigour on our side, and with the most determined 
resolution on the part of the Danes. They fought 
to great advantage, because most of the vessels in 
their line of defence were without masts : the few 
which had any standing had their topmasts struck, 
and the hulls could only be seen at intervals. The 
Isis must have been destroyed by the superior weight 
of her enemy's fire, if Captain Inman, in the DesirSe 
frigate, had not judiciously taken a situation which 
enabled him to rake the Dane, and if the Polyphemus 
had not also relieved her. Both in the Bellona and 
the Isis many men were lost by the bursting of their 
guns. The former ship was about forty years old, 
and these guns were believed to be the same which 
she had first taken to sea : they were, probably, 
originally faulty, for the fragments were full of little 



Life of Nelson 193 

air-holes. The Bellona lost seventy-five men ; the I sis 
one hundred and ten; the Monarch two hundred and 
ten. She was more than any other line of battle ship 
exposed to the great battery; and supporting at the 
same time the united fire of the Holstein and the 
Zealand^ her loss this day exceeded that of any single 
ship during the whole war. Amid the tremendous 
carnage in this vessel, some of the men displayed a 
singular instance of coolness : the pork and peas 
happened to be in the kettle; a shot knocked its con- 
tents about; they picked up the pieces, and ate and 
fought at the same time. 

The Prince Royal had taken his station upon one 
of the batteries, from whence he beheld the action 
and issued his orders. Denmark had never been en- 
gaged in so arduous a contest, and never did the 
Danes more nobly display their national courage — a 
courage not more unhappily, than impoliticly, exerted 
in subserviency to the interest of France. Captain 
Thura, of the Indfoedsretteriy fell early in the action ; 
and all his officers, except one lieutenant and one 
marine officer, were either killed or wounded. In 
the confusion, the colours were either struck or shot 
away; but she was moored athwart one of the bat- 
teries in such a situation that the British made no 
attempt to board her ; and a boat was despatched to 
the prince, to inform him of her situation. He turned 
to those about him, and said, '* Gentlemen, Thura is 
killed; which of you will take the command?" 
Schroedersee, a captain who had lately resigned on 
account of extreme ill health, answered, in a feeble 
voice, ** I will," and hastened on board. The crew, 
perceiving a new commander coming alongside, 
hoisted their colours again, and fired a broadside. 
Schroedersee, when he came on deck, found himself 
surrounded by the dead and wounded, and called to 
those in the boat to get quickly on board : a ball 
struck him at that moment. A lieutenant, who had 
accompanied him, then took the command, and con- 

o 



194 Robert Sou they s 

tinued to fight the ship. A youth of seventeen, by 
name Villemoes, particularly distinguished himself on 
this memorable day. He had volunteered to take 
the command of a floating battery, which was a raft, 
consisting merely of a number of beams nailed to- 
gether, with a flooring to support the guns : it was 
square, with a breast-work full of portholes and 
without masts, carrying twenty-four guns and one 
hundred and twenty men. With this he got under 
the stern of the Elephant^ below the reach of the 
stern-chasers ; and, under a heavy fire of small arms 
from the marines, fought his raft, till the truce was 
announced, with such skill, as well as courage, as to 
excite Nelson's warmest admiration. 

Between one and two the fire of the Danes slack- 
ened ; about two it ceased from the greater part of 
their line, and some of their lighter ships were adrift. 
It was, however, difficult to take possession of those 
who struck, because the batteries on Amak Island pro- 
tected them, and because an irregular fire was kept 
up from the ships themselves as the boats approached. 
This arose from the nature of the action ; the crews 
were continually reinforced from the shore : and fresh 
men coming on board, did not inquire whether the 
flag had been struck, or, perhaps, did not heed it; — 
many, or most of them, never having been engaged 
in war before, — knowing nothing, therefore, of its 
laws, and thinking only of defending their country to 
the last extremity. The Danbrog fired upon the 
Elephant's boats in this manner, though her commo- 
dore had removed her pendant and deserted her, 
though she had struck, and though she was in flames. 
After she had been abandoned by the commodore, 
Braun fought her till he lost his right hand, and then 
Captain Lemming took the command. This unex- 
pected renewal of her fire made the Elephant and 
Glatton renew theirs, till she was not only silenced, 
but nearly every man in the praams, ahead and astern 
of her, was killed. When the smoke of their guns 



Life of Nelson 195 

died away, she was seen drifting in flames before the 
wind ; those of her crew who remained alive, and able 
to exert themselves, throwing themselves out at her 
portholes. 

Captain Rothe commanded the Nyeborg praam, and 
perceiving that she could not much longer be kept 
afloat, made for the inner road. As he passed the 
line he found the Aggershuus praam in a more miser- 
able condition than his own ; her masts had all gone 
by the board, and she was on the point of sinking. 
Rothe made fast a cable to her stern, and towed her 
off; but he could get her no further than a shoal, 
called Stubben, when she sunk ; and soon after he had 
worked the Nyeborg up to the landing-place, that 
vessel also sunk to her gunwale. Never did any 
vessel come out of action in a more dreadful plight. 
The stump of her foremast was the only stick stand- 
ing ; her cabin had been stove in ; every gun, except 
a single one, was dismounted ; and her deck was 
covered with shattered limbs and dead bodies. 

By half-past two the action had ceased along that 
part of the line which was astern of the Elephanty but 
not with the ships ahead and the Crown Batteries. 
Nelson, seeing the manner in which his boats were 
fired upon when they went to take possession of the 
prizes, became angry, and said he must either send 
on shore to have this irregular proceeding stopped, or 
send a fire-ship and burn them : and, with a presence 
of mind peculiar to himself, and never more signally 
displayed than now, he availed himself of this occa- 
sion to secure the advantage which he had gained, 
and open a negotiation. He retired into the stern 
gallery, and wrote thus to the Crown Prince : ** Vice- 
Admiral Lord Nelson has been commanded to spare 
Denmark, when she no longer resists. The line of 
defence which covered her shores has struck to the 
British flag, but if the firing is continued on the part 
of Denmark, he must set on fire all the prizes that he 
has taken, without having the power of saving the 



196 Robert Southey's 

men who have so nobly defended them. The brave 
Danes are the brothers, and should never be the 
enemies, of the Engflish. " A wafer was given him; 
but he ordered a candle to be brought from the cock- 
pit, and sealed the letter with wax, affixing a larger 
seal than he ordinarily used. *' This," said he, " is 
no time to appear hurried and informal." Captain 
Sir Frederic Thesiger, who acted as his aide-de-camp, 
carried this letter with a flag of truce. Meantime the 
fire of the ships ahead, and the approach of the Ramil- 
lies and Defencey from Sir Hyde's division, which 
had now worked near enough to alarm the enemy, 
though not to injure them, silenced the remainder of 
the Danish line to the eastward of the Trekroner. That 
battery, however, continued its fire. This formidable 
work, owing to the want of the ships which had been 
destined to attack it, and the inadequate force of 
Riou's little squadron, was comparatively uninjured : 
towards the close of the action it had been manned 
with nearly fifteen hundred men, arid the intention of 
storming it, for which every preparation had been 
made, was abandoned as impracticable. 

During Thesiger's absence. Nelson sent for Free- 
mantle from the Ganges, and consulted with him and 
Foley, whether it was advisable to advance, with 
those ships which had sustained least damage, against 
the yet uninjured part of the Danish line. They were 
decidedly of opinion that the best thing which could 
be done was, while the wind continued fair, to remove 
the fleet out of the intricate channel from which it had 
to retreat. In somewhat more than half an hour 
after Thesiger had been despatched, the Danish adju- 
tant-general Lindholm came, bearing a flag of truce : 
upon which the Trekroner ceased to fire, and the 
action closed, after four hours' continuance. He 
brought an inquiry from the prince, What was the 
object of Nelson's note? The British admiral wrote 
in reply : ** Lord Nelson's object in sending the flag of 
truce was humanity : he therefore consents that hos- 



Life of Nelson 197 

tilities shall cease, and that the wounded Danes may 
be taken on shore. And Lord Nelson will take his 
prisoners out of the vessels, and burn or carry off his 
prizes as he shall think fit. Lord Nelson, with 
humble duty to His Royal Highness the Prince, will 
consider this the greatest victory he has ever gained, 
if it may be the cause of a happy reconciliation and 
union between his own most gracious Sovereign and 
His Majesty the King of Denmark.'* Sir Frederic 
Thesiger was despatched a second time with the 
reply; and the Danish adjutant-general was referred 
to the commander-in-chief for a conference upon this 
overture. Lindholm assenting to this, proceeded to 
the London^ which was riding at anchor full four 
miles off; and Nelson, losing not one of the critical 
moments which he had thus gained, made signal for his 
leading ships to weigh in succession. They had the 
shoal to clear; they were much crippled; and 
their course was immediately under the guns of the 
Trekroner. 

The Monarch led the way. This ship had received 
six-and-twenty shot between -wind and water. She 
had not a shroud standing : there was a double-headed 
shot in the heart of her foremast, and the slightest 
wind would have sent every mast over her side. The 
imminent danger from which Nelson had extricated 
himself soon became apparent ; the Monarch touched 
immediately upon a shoal, over which she was pushed 
by the Ganges taking her amidships ; the Glatton went 
clear; but the other two, the Defiance and the Ele- 
phanty grounded about a mile from the Trekroner, and 
there remained fixed for many hours, in spite of all the 
exertions of their wearied crews. The Desirce frigate 
also, at the other end of the line, having gone, toward 
the close of the action, to assist the Bellona, became 
fast on the same shoal. Nelson left the Elephant^ 
soon after she took the ground, to follow Lindholm. 
The heat of action was over ; and that kind of feeling 
which the surrounding scene of havoc was so well fitted 



198 Robert Southey's 

to produce, pressed heavily upon his exhausted spirits. 
The sky had suddenly become overcast; white flags 
were waving from the mastheads of so many shattered 
ships — the slaughter had ceased, but the grief was to 
come ; for the account of the dead was not yet made 
up, and no man could tell for what friends he might 
have to mourn. The very silence which follows the 
cessation of such a battle becomes a weight upon the 
heart at first, rather than a relief ; and though the work 
of mutual destruction was at an end, the Danhroiji was, 
at this time, drifting about in flames ; presently she 
blew up; while our boats, which had put off in all 
directions to assist her, were endeavouring to rescue 
her devoted crew, few of whom could be saved. The 
fate of these men, after the gallantry which they had 
displayed, particularly affected Nelson : for there was 
nothing in this action of that indignation against the 
enemy, and that impression of retributive justice, 
which, at the Nile, had given a sterner temper to his 
mind, and a sense of austere delight, in beholding the 
vengeance of which he was the appointed minister. 
The Danes were an honourable foe ; they were of Eng- 
lish mould as well as English blood ; and now that the 
battle had ceased, he regarded them rather as brethren 
than as enemies. There was another reflection also 
which mingled with these melancholy thoughts, and 
predisposed him to receive them. He was not here 
master of his own movements, as at Egypt; he had 
won the day by disobeying his orders ; and, in so far 
as he had been successful, had convicted the com- 
mander-in-chief of an error in judgment. "Well," 
said he, as he left the Elephant, " I have fought con- 
trary to orders, and I shall, perhaps, be hanged. 
Never mind : let them ! '* 

This was the language of a man who, while he is 
giving utterance to an uneasy thought, clothes it half 
in jest, because he half repents that it has been dis- 
closed. His services had been too eminent on that 
day, his judgment too conspicuous, his success too 



Life of Nelson 199 

signal, for any commander, however jealous of his 
own authority, or envious of another's merits, to ex- 
press anything but satisfaction and gratitude, which 
Sir Hyde heartily felt, and sincerely expressed. It 
was speedily agreed that there should be a suspension 
of hostilities for four-and-twenty hours, that all the 
prizes should be surrendered, and the wounded Danes 
carried on shore. There was a pressing necessity for 
this : for the Danes, either from too much confidence 
in the strength of their position, and the difficulty of 
the channel; or supposing that the wounded might 
be carried to shore during the action, which was 
found totally impracticable; or, perhaps, from the 
confusion which the attack excited, had provided no 
surgeons : so that, when our men boarded the cap- 
tured, ships, they found many of the mangled and 
mutilated Danes bleeding to death for want of proper 
assistance — a scene, of all others, the most shocking 
to a brave man's feelings. 

The boats of Sir Hyde's division were actively 
employed all night in bringing out the prizes, and 
in getting afloat the ships which were on shore. At 
daybreak. Nelson, who had slept in his own ship, 
the St. George f rowed to the Elephant ^ and his delight 
in finding her afloat seemed to give him new life. 
There he took a hasty breakfast, praising the men for 
their exertions, and then pushed off to the prizes, 
which had not yet been removed. The Zealand, 74, 
the last which struck, had drifted on the shoal under 
the Trekroner; and relying, as it seems, upon the 
protection which that battery might have afforded, 
refused to acknowledge herself captured ; saying, that 
though it was true her flag was not to be seen, her 
pendant was still flying. Nelson ordered one of our 
brigs and three longboats to approach her, and rowed 
up himself to one of the enemy's ships to communi- 
cate with the commodore. This officer proved to be 
an old acquaintance, whom he had known in the West 
Indies: so he invited himself on board; and, with 



200 Robert Southey's 

that urbanity, as well as decision, which always 
characterised him, urgfcd his claim to the Zealand so 
well that it was admitted. The men from the boats 
lashed a cable round her bowsprit, and the gun-vessel 
towed her away. It is affirmed, and probably with 
truth, that the Danes felt more pain at beholding 
this than at all their misfortunes on the preceding 
day; and one of the officers. Commodore Steen Bille, 
went to the Trekroner Battery, and asked the com- 
mander why he had not sunk the Zealand rather than 
suffer her thus to be carried off by the enemy. 

This was indeed a mournful day for Copenhagen. 
It was Good Friday; but the general agitation, and 
the mourning which was in every house, made all 
distinction of days be forgotten. There were, at that 
hour, thousands in that city who felt, and more, 
perhaps, who needed, the consolations of Christianity, 
but few or none who could be calm enough to think 
of its observances. The English were actively 
employed in refitting their own ships, securing the 
prizes, and distributing the prisoners ; the Danes, in 
carrying on shore and disposing of the wounded and 
the dead. It had been a murderous action. Our 
loss, in killed and wounded, was nine hundred and 
fifty-three : part of this slaughter might have been 
spared. The commanding officer of the troops on 
board one of our ships asked where his men should 
be stationed? He was told that they could be of no 
use; that they were not near enough for musketry, 
and were not wanted at the guns ; they had, therefore, 
better go below. This, he said, was impossible, — it 
would be a disgrace that could never be wiped away. 
They were, therefore, drawn up upon the gangway, 
to satisfy this cruel point of honour ; and there, with- 
out the possibility of annoying the enemy, they were 
mown down ! The loss of the Danes, including 
prisoners, amounted to about six thousand. The 
negotiations, meantime, went on ; and it was agreed 
that Nelson should have an interview with the prince 



Life of Nelson 201 

the following day. Hardy and Freemantle landed 
with him. This was a thing as unexampled as the 
other circumstances of the battle. A strong guard 
was appointed to escort him to the palace — as much 
for the purpose of security as of honour. The popu- 
lace, according to the British account, showed a 
mixture of admiration, curiosity, and displeasure, at 
beholding that man in the midst of them, who had 
inflicted such wounds upon Denmark. But there 
were neither acclamations nor murmurs. ** The 
people," says a Dane, "did not degrade themselves 
with the former, nor disgrace themselves with the 
latter : the admiral was received as one brave enemy 
ever ought to receive another — he was received with 
respect." The preliminaries of the negotiation were 
adjusted at this interview. During the repast which 
followed, Nelson, with all the sincerity of his char- 
acter, bore willing testimony to the valour of his 
foes. He told the prince that he had been in a 
hundred and five engagements, but that this was the 
most tremendous of all. ** The French," he said, 
"fought bravely; but they could not have stood for 
one hour the fight which the Danes had supported 
for four." He requested that Villemoes might be 
introduced to him ; and, shaking hands with the 
youth, told the prince that he ought to be made an 
admiral. The prince replied : "If, my lord, I am 
to make all my brave officers admirals, I should have 
no captains or lieutenants in my service." 

The sympathy of the Danes for their countrymen 
who had bled in their defence was not weakened by 
distance of time or place in this instance. Things 
needful for the service, or the comfort of the wounded, 
were sent in profusion to the hospitals, till the superin- 
tendents gave public notice that they could receive no 
more. On the third day after the action the dead were 
buried in the naval churchyard. The ceremony was 
made as publfc and as solemn as the occasion 
required : such a procession had never before been 



202 Robert Southey's 

seen in that, or, perhaps, in any other city. A public 
monument was erected upon the spot where the slain 
were gathered together. A subscription was opened 
on the day of the funeral for the relief of the 
sufferers, and collections in aid of it made throughout 
all the churches in the kingdom. This appeal to the 
feelings of the people was made with circumstances 
which gave it full effect. A monument was raised 
in the midst of the church, surmounted by the Danish 
colours : young maidens, dressed in white, stood 
round it, with either one who had been wounded in 
the battle or the widow and orphans of some one 
who had fallen : a suitable oration was delivered 
from the pulpit, and patriotic hymns and songs were 
afterwards performed. Medals were distributed to all 
the officers, and to the men who had distinguished 
themselves. Poets and painters vied with each other 
in celebrating a battle, which, disastrous as it was, 
had yet been honourable to their country : some, with 
pardonable sophistry, represented the advantage of 
the day as on their own side. One writer discovered 
a more curious, but less disputable ground of satis- 
faction, in the reflection that Nelson, as may be 
inferred from his name, was of Danish descent, and 
his actions, therefore, the Dane argued, were attri- 
butable to Danish valour. 

The negotiation was continued during the five 
following days ; and, in that interval, the prizes were 
disposed of, in a manner which was little approved by 
Nelson. Six line of battle ships and eight praams 
had been taken. Of these, the Holsteiriy 64, was the 
only one which was sent home. The Zealand was a 
finer ship : but the Zealand and all the others were 
burnt, and their brass battering cannon sunk with 
the hulls in such shoal water, that, when the fleet 
returned from Revel, they found the Danes, with 
craft over the wrecks, employed in getting the guns 
up again. Nelson, though he forbore from any 
public expression of displeasure at seeing the proofs 



Life of Nelson 203 

and trophies of his victory destroyed, did not forget 
to represent to the Admiralty the case of those who 
were thus deprived of their prize-money. ' * Whether, ' ' 
said he to Earl St. Vincent, " Sir Hyde Parker may 
mention the subject to you, I know not, for he is 
rich, and does not want it : nor is it, you will believe 
me, any desire to get a few hundred pounds that 
actuates me to address this letter to you, but justice 
to the brave officers and men who fought on that 
day. It is true our opponents were in hulks and 
floats, only adapted for the position they were in : 
but that made our battle so much the harder, and 
victory so much the more difficult to obtain. Believe 
me, I have weighed all circumstances ; and, in my 
conscience, I think that the king should send a 
gracious message to the House of Commons for a 
gift to this fleet : for what must be the natural feel- 
ings of the officers and men belonging to it, to see 
their rich commander-in-chief burn all the fruits of 
their victory, which, if fitted up, and sent to England 
(as many of them might have been, by dismantling 
part of our fleet), would have sold for a good round 
sum." 

On the 9th Nelson landed again to conclude the 
terms of the armistice. During its continuance the 
armed ships and vessels of Denmark were to remain 
in their then actual situation, as to armament, equip- 
ment, and hostile position ; and the treaty of armed 
neutrality, as far as related to the co-operation of 
Denmark, was suspended. The prisoners were to be 
sent on shore, an acknowledgment being given for 
them, and for the wounded also, that they might be 
carried to Great Britain's credit in the account of 
war, in case hostilities should be renewed. The 
British fleet was allowed to provide itself with all 
things requisite for the health and comfort of its 
men. A difficulty arose respecting the duration of 
the armistice. The Danish Commissioners fairly 
stated their fears of Russia; and Nelson, with that 



204 Robert Southey's 

frankness which sound policy and the sense of power 
seem often to require as well as justify in diplomacy, 
told them his reason for demanding- a long term was, 
that he might have time to act against the Russian 
fleet, and then return to Copenhagen. Neither party 
would yield upon this point, and one of the Danes 
hinted at the renewal of hostilities. '* Renew hos- 
tilities ! " cried Nelson to one of his friends — for 
he understood French enough to comprehend what 
was said, though not to answer it in the same 
language. ' ' Tell him we are ready at a moment ! — 
ready to bombard this very night ! " The conference, 
however, proceeded amicably on both sides; and as 
the commissioners could not agree upon this head, 
they broke up, leaving Nelson to settle it with the 
prince. A levee was held forthwith in one of the 
state rooms ; a scene well suited for such a consulta- 
tion, for all these rooms had been stripped of their 
furniture in fear of a bombardment. To a bombard- 
ment also Nelson was looking at this time; fatigue, 
and anxiety, and vexation at the dilatory measures 
of the commander-in-chief, combined to make him 
irritable; and as he was on his way to the prince's 
dining-room, he whispered to the officer on whose 
arm he was leaning, " Though I have only one eye, 
I can see that all this will burn well." After dinner 
he was closeted with the prince, and they agreed 
that the armistice should continue fourteen weeks, 
and that, at its termination, fourteen days* notice 
should be given before the recommencement of 
hostilities. 

An official account of the battle was published by 
Olfert Fischer, the Danish commander-in-chief, in 
which it was asserted that our force was greatly 
superior; nevertheless, that two of our ships of the 
line had struck, that the others were so weakened, 
and especially Lord Nelson's own ship, as to fire only 
single shots for an hour before the end of the action ; 
and that this hero himself, in the middle and very 



Life of Nelson 205 

heat of the conflict, sent a flag of truce on shore to 
propose a cessation of hostilities. For the truth of 
this account the Dane appealed to the prince, and all 
those who, like him, had been eye-witnesses of the 
scene. Nelson was exceedingly indignant at such 
a statement, and addressed a letter in confutation 
of it to the adjutant-general, Lindholm, thinking this 
incumbent upon him for the information of the prince, 
since His Royal Highness had been appealed to as a 
witness. "Otherwise," said he, *' had Commodore 
Fischer confined himself to his own veracity, I should 
have treated his oflScial letter with the contempt it 
deserved, and allowed the world to appreciate the 
merits of the two contending officers." After point- 
ing out and detecting some of the misstatements in 
the account, he proceeds : ** As to his nonsense about 
victory. His Royal Highness will not much credit 
him. I sunk, burnt, captured, or drove into the 
harbour the whole line of defence to the southward 
of the Crown Islands. He says he is told that two 
British ships struck. Why did he not take possession 
of them? I took possession of his as fast as they 
struck. The reason is clear — that he did not believe 
it : he must have known the falsity of the report. 
He states that the ship in which I had the honour 
to hoist my flag fired latterly only single guns. It 
is true : for steady and cool were my brave fellows, 
and did not wish to throw away a single shot. He 
seems to exult that I sent on shore a flag of truce. 
You know, and His Royal Highness knows, that the 
guns fired from the shore could only fire through the 
Danish ships which had surrendered ; and that, if I 
fired at the shore, it could only be in the same 
manner. God forbid that I should destroy an unresist- 
ing Dane ! When they became my prisoners, I be- 
came their protector." 

This letter was written in terms of great asperity 
against the Danish commander. Lindholm replied in 
a manner every way honourable to himself. He vin- 



2o6 Robert Southey's 

dicated the commodore in some points, and excused 
him in others, reminding- Nelson that every com- 
mander-in-chief was liable to receive incorrect re- 
ports. With a natural desire to represent the action 
in the most favourable light to Denmark, he took into 
the comparative strength of the two parties the ships 
which were aground, and which could not get into 
action ; and omitted the Trekroner, and the batteries 
upon Amak Island. He disclaimed all idea of claim- 
ing as a victory " what, to every intent and purpose, ' 
said he, ** was a defeat — but not an inglorious one. 
As to your lordship's motive for sending a flag of 
truce, it never can be miscontrued ; and your sub- 
sequent conduct has sufficiently shown that humanity 
is always the companion of true valour. You have 
done more ; you have shown yourself a true friend to 
the re-establishment of peace and good harmony be- 
tween this country and Great Britain. It is, there- 
fore, with the sincerest esteem I shall always feel my- 
self attached to your lordship." Thus handsomely 
winding up his reply, he soothed and contented Nel- 
son, who, drawing up a memorandum of the com- 
parative force of the two parties for his own satisfac- 
tion, assured Lindholm that if the commodore's state- 
ment had been in the same manly and honourable 
strain he would have been the last man to have noticed 
any little inaccuracies which might get into a com- 
mander-in-chief's public letter. 

For the battle of Copenhagen Nelson was raised to 
the rank of Viscount — an inadequate mark of reward 
for services so splendid^ and of such paramount im- 
portance to the dearest interests of England. There 
was, however, some prudence in dealing out honours 
to him step by step : had he lived long enough, he 
would have fought his way up to a dukedom. 



Life of Nelson 207 



CHAPTER VIII 

When Nelson informed Earl St. Vincent that the 
armistice had been concluded, he told him also, with- 
out reserve, his own discontent at the dilatoriness and 
indecision which he witnessed, and could not remedy. 
** No man," said he, '* but those who are on the spot 
can tell what I have gone through, and do suffer. 
I make no scruple in saying that I would have been 
at Revel fourteen days ago ! that, without this armis- 
tice, the fleet would never have gone but by order of 
the Admiralty, and with it, I dare say, we shall not go 
this week. I wanted Sir Hyde to let me at least go 
and cruise off Carlscrona, to prevent the Revel ships 
from getting in. I said I would not go to Revel, to 
take any of those laurels which I was sure he would 
reap there. Think for me, my dear lord ; and if I 
have deserved well, let me return : if ill, for Heaven's 
sake supersede me, for I cannot exist in this state." 

Fatigue, incessant anxiety, and a climate little 
suited to one of a tender constitution, which had now 
for many years been accustomed to more genial lati- 
tudes, made him, at this time, seriously determine 
upon returning home. ** If the northern business 
were not settled," he said, "they must send more 
admirals ; for the keen air of the north had cut him 
to the heart." He felt the want of activity and de- 
cision in the commander-in-chief more keenly ; and 
this affected his spirits, and, consequently, his 
health, more than the inclemency of the Baltic. Soon 
after the armistice was signed. Sir Hyde proceeded 
to the eastward, with such ships as were fit for ser- 
vice, leaving Nelson to follow with the rest as soon 
as those which had received slight damages should 
be repaired and the rest sent to England. In passing 
between the isles of Amak and Saltholm most of the 
ships touched the ground, and some of them stuck 
fast for a while : no serious injury, however, was 



2o8 Robert Southey s 

sustained. It was intended to act against the Russians 
first, before the breaking up of the frost should enable 
them to leave Revel; but learning, on the way, that 
the Swedes had put to sea to effect a junction with 
them. Sir Hyde altered his course, in hopes of inter- 
cepting this part of the enemy's force. Nelson had, 
at this time, provided for the more pressing emergen- 
cies of the service, and prepared, on the i8th, to 
follow the fleet. The St. George drew too much 
water to pass the channel between the isles without 
being lightened : the guns were therefore taken out 
and put on board an American vessel : a contrary 
wind, however, prevented Nelson from moving, and 
on that same evening, while he was thus delayed, in- 
formation reached him of the relative situation of the 
Swedish and British fleets, and the probability of an 
action. The fleet was nearly ten leagues distant, and 
both wind and current contrary : but it was not possi- 
ble that Nelson could wait for a favourable season 
under such an expectation. He ordered his boat im- 
mediately, and stepped into it. Night was setting in 
— one of the cold spring nights of the North — and it 
was discovered, soon after they had left the ship, 
that in their haste they had forgotten to provide him 
with a boat cloak. He, however, forbade them to 
return for one : and when one of his companions 
offered his own greatcoat, and urged him to make use 
of it, he replied, '* I thank you very much — but, to 
tell you the truth, my anxiety keeps me sufficiently 
warm at present." 

" Do you think,** said he, presently, ** that our 
fleet has quitted Bornholm? If it has, we must follow 
it to Carlscrona. ** About midnight he reached it, 
and once more got on board the Elephant. On the 
.following morning the Swedes were discovered : but 
they, as soon as they perceived the English approach- 
ing, retired, and took shelter in Carlscrona, behind 
the batteries on the island at the entrance of that 
port. Sir Hyde sent in a flag of truce, stating that 



Life of Nelson 209 

Denmark had concluded an armistice, and requiring- 
an explicit declaration from the Court of Sweden, 
whether it would adhere to, or abandon, the hostile 
measures which it had taken ag-ainst the rights and 
interests of Great Britain. The commander, Vice- 
Admiral Cronstadt, replied, "that he could not 
answer a question which did not come within the par- 
ticular circle of his duty, but that the king was then 
at Malmoe, and would soon be at Carlscrona. " Gus- 
tavus shortly afterwards arrived, and an answer was 
then returned to this effect: ''That His Swedish 
Majesty would not for a moment fail to fulfil, with 
fidelity and sincerity, the engagements he had entered 
into with his sillies ; but he would not refuse to listen 
to equitable proposals, made by deputies furnished 
with proper authority by the King of Great Britain 
to the united northern powers.** Satisfied with this 
answer, and with the known disposition of the 
Swedish court. Sir Hyde sailed for the Gulf of Fin- 
land : but he had not proceeded far before a despatch 
boat, from the Russian ambassador at Copenhagen, 
arrived, bringing intelligence of the death of the 
Emperor Paul ; and that his successor, Alexander, had 
accepted the offer made by England to his lather of 
terminating the dispute by a convention ; the British 
admiral was, therefore, required to desist from all 
further hostilities. 

It was Nelson's maxim, that, to negotiate with 
effect, force should be at hand, and in a situation to 
act. The fleet, having been reinforced from England, 
amounted to eighteen sail of the line; and the wind 
was fair for Revel. There he would have sailed im- 
mediately, to place himself between that division of 
the Russian fleet and the squadron at Cronstadt, in 
case this offer should prove insincere. Sir Hyde, on 
the other hand, believed that the death of Paul had 
effected all which was necessary. The manner of that 
death, indeed, rendered it apparent that a change of 
policy would take place in the cabinet of Petersburgh 



2IO Robert Southey's 

— but Nelson never trusted anything to the uncertain 
events of time which could possibly be secured by 
promptitude or resolution. It was not, therefore, 
without severe mortification that he saw the com- 
mander-in-chief return to the coast of Zealand and 
anchor in Kioge Bay — there to wait patiently for what 
might happen. There the fleet remained till des- 
patches arrived from home, on the 5th of May, re- 
calling Sir Hyde and appointing Nelson commander- 
in-chief. 

Nelson wrote to Earl St. Vincent that he was un- 
able to hold this honourable station. Admiral Graves 
also was so ill as to be confined to his bed, and he 
entreated that some person might come out and take 
the command. '* I will endeavour," said he, *' to do 
my best while I remain ; but, my dear lord, I shall 
either soon go to heaven, I hope, or must rest quiet 
for a time. If Sir Hyde were gone, I would now be 
under sail.'* On the day when this was written he 
received news of his appointment. Not a moment 
was now lost. His first signal, as commander-in- 
chief, was to hoist in all launches, and prepare to 
weigh : and on the 7th he sailed from Kioge. Part 
of his fleet was left at Bornholm to watch the Swedes, 
from whom he required and obtained an assurance 
that the British trade in the Cattegat and in the Baltic 
should not be molested ; and saying how unpleasant it 
would be to him if anything should happen which 
might, for a moment, disturb the returning harmony 
between Sweden and Great Britain, he apprised them 
that he was not directed to abstain from hostilities 
should he meet with the Swedish fleet at sea. Mean- 
time, he himself, with ten sail of the line, two frigates, 
a brig and a schooner, made for the Gulf of Finland. 
Paul, in one of the freaks of his tyranny, had seized 
upon all the British effects in Russia, and even con- 
sidered British subjects as his prisoners. '* I will 
have all the English shipping and property restored," 
said Nelson, " but I will do nothing violently — neither 



Life of Nelson 211 

commit my country, nor suffer Russia to mix the 
affairs of Denmark or Sweden with the detention of 
our ships." The wind was fair, and carried him, in 
four days, to Revel Roads. But the bay had been 
clear of firm ice on the 29th of April, while the Eng- 
lish were lying idly at Kioge. The Russians had cut 
through the ice in the mole, six feet thick, and their 
whole squadron had sailed from Cronstadt on the 
third. Before that time it had lain at the mercy of the 
English. ** Nothing," Nelson said, ** if it had been 
right to make the attack, could have saved one ship 
of them in two hours after our entering the bay." 

It so happened that there was no cause to regret 
the opportunity which had been lost, and Nelson im- 
mediately put the intentions of Russia to the proof. 
He sent on shore, to say that he came with friendly 
views, and was ready to return a salute. On their 
part the salute was delayed, till a message was sent 
to them to inquire for what reason ; and the officer, 
whose neglect had occasioned the delay, was put under 
arrest. Nelson wrote to the emperor, proposing to 
wait on him personally and congratulate him on his 
accession, and urging the immediate release of British 
subjects and restoration of British property. 

The answer arrived on the i6th. Nelson, mean- 
time, had exchanged visits with the governor, and 
the most friendly intercourse had subsisted between 
the ships and the shore. Alexander's ministers, in 
their reply, expressed their surprise at the arrival of 
a British fleet in a Russian port, and their wish that 
it should return ; they professed, on the part of Russia, 
the most friendly disposition towards Great Britain, 
but declined the personal visit of Lord Nelson, unless 
he came in a single ship. There was a suspicion im- 
plied in this which stung Nelson, and he said the 
Russian ministers would never have written thus if 
their fleet had been at Revel. He wrote an imme- 
diate reply, expressing what he felt ; he told the court 
of Petersburgh, ** that the word of a British admiral. 



212 Robert Southey's 

when given in explanation of any part of his conduct, 
was as sacred as that of any sovereign's in Europe." 
And he repeated, "that, under other circumstances, it 
would have been his anxious wish to have paid his 
personal respects to the emperor, and signed, with his 
own hand, the act of amity between the two coun- 
tries." Having despatched this, he stood out to sea 
immediately, leaving a brig to bring off the provisions 
which had been contracted for, and to settle the ac- 
counts. " I hope all is right," said he, writing to our 
ambassador at Berlin ; ** but seamen are but bad nego- 
tiators, for we put to issue in five minutes what 
diplomatic forms would be five months doing." 

On his way down the Baltic, however, he met the 
Russian Admiral Tchitchagof, whom the emperor, in 
reply to Sir Hyde's overtures, had sent to communi- 
cate personally with the British commander-in-chief. 
The reply was such as had been wished and expected ; 
and these negotiators going, seaman-like, straight to 
their object, satisfied each other of the friendly inten- 
tions of their respective Governments. Nelson then 
anchored off Rostock, and there he received an answer 
to his last despatch from Revel, in which the Russian 
court expressed their regret that there should have 
been any misconception between them, informed him 
that the British vessels which Paul had detained were 
ordered to be liberated, and invited him to Peters- 
burgh in whatever mode might be most agreeable to 
himself. Other honours awaited him : the Duke of 
Mecklenburgh Strelitz, the queen's brother, came to 
visit him on board his ship ; and towns, from the in- 
land parts of Mecklenburgh, sent deputations with 
their public books of record, that they might have the 
name of Nelson in them, written by his own hand. 

From Rostock the fleet returned to Kioge Bay, 
Nelson saw that the temper of the Danes towards 
England was such as naturally arose frorn the chas- 
tisement which they had so recently received. ** In 
this nation," said he, ** we shall not be forgiven for 



Life of Nelson 213 

having the upper hand of them : I only thank God we 
have, or they would try to humble us to the dust.*' 
He saw also that the Danish Cabinet was completely 
subservient to France : a French officer was, at this 
time, the companion and counsellor of the Crown 
Prince ; and things were done in such open violation 
of the armistice, that Nelson thought a second inflic- 
tion of vengeance would soon be necessary. He wrote 
to the Admiralty requesting a clear and explicit reply 
to his inquiry, Whether the commander-in-chief was 
at liberty to hold the language becoming a British 
admiral? — "Which very probably," said he, ** if I 
am here, will break the armistice, and set Copenhagen 
in a blaze. I see everything which is dirty and mean 
going on, and the Prince Royal at the head of it. 
Ships have been masted, guns taken on board, float- 
ing batteries prepared — and, except hauling out and 
completing their rigging, everything has been done 
in defiance of the treaty. My heart burns at seeing 
the word of a prince, nearly allied to our good king, 
so falsified ; but his conduct is such that he will lose 
his kingdom if he goes on, for Jacobins rule in Den- 
mark. I have made no representations yet, as it 
would be useless to do so until I have the power of 
correction. All I beg, in the name of the future com- 
mander-in-chief, is, that the orders may be clear; for 
enough is done to break twenty treaties, if it should 
be wished, or to make the Prince Royal humble him- 
self before British generosity." 

Nelson was not deceived in his judgment of the 
Danish Cabinet, but the battle of Copenhagen had 
crippled its power. The death of the Czar Paul had 
broken the confederacy; and that Cabinet, therefore, 
was compelled to defer, till a more convenient season, 
the indulgence of its enmity towards Great Britain. 
Soon afterwards, Admiral Sir Charles Maurice Pole 
arrived to take the command. The business, military 
and political, had by that time been so far completed 
that the presence of the British fleet soon became no 



214 Robert Southey's 

longer necessary. Sir Charles, however, made the 
short time of his command memorable by passing the 
Great Belt, for the first time, with line of battle ships, 
working through the channel against adverse winds. 
When Nelson left the fleet, this speedy termination of 
the expedition, though confidently expected, was not 
certain ; and he, in his unwillingness to weaken the 
British force, thought at one time of traversing Jut- 
land in his boat, by the canal, to Tonningen on the 
Eyder, and finding his way home from thence. This 
intention was not executed ; but he returned in a brig, 
declining to accept a frigate — which few admirals 
would have done, especially if, like him, they suffered 
from sea-sickness in a small vessel. On his arrival at 
Yarmouth the first thing he did was to visit the hos- 
pital, and see the men who had been wounded in the 
late battle — that victory which had added new glory 
to the name of Nelson, and which was of more im- 
portance even than the battle of the Nile to the 
honour and strength and security of England. 

He had not been many weeks on shore before he 
v/as called upon to undertake a service for which no 
Nelson was required. Buonaparte, who was now 
first consul, and in reality sole ruler of France, was 
making preparations, upon a great scale, for invading 
England : but his schemes in the Baltic had been 
baffled ; fleets could not be created as they were 
wanted ; and his armies, therefore, were to come over 
in gun-boats and such small craft as could be rapidly 
built or collected for the occasion. From the former 
Governments of France such threats have only been 
matter of insult and policy : in Buonaparte they were 
sincere — for this adventurer, intoxicated with success, 
already began to imagine that all things were to be 
submitted to his fortune. We had not, at that time, 
proved the superiority of our soldiers over the French, 
and the unreflecting multitude were not to be per- 
suaded that an invasion could only be effected by 
numerous and powerful fleets. A general alarm was 



Life of Nelson 215 

excited ; and, In condescension to this unworthy feel- 
ing, Nelson was appointed to a command, extending 
from Orfordness to Beachy Head, on both shores : — a 
sort of service, he said, for which he felt no other 
ability than what might be found in his zeal. 

To this service, however, such as it was, he applied 
with his wonted alacrity; and having hoisted his 
flag in the Medusa frigate, went to reconnoitre Bou- 
logne — the point from which it was supposed the 
great attempt would be made, and which the French, 
in fear of an attack themselves, were fortifying with 
all care. He approached near enough to sink two 
of their floating batteries and destroy a few gun- 
boats which were without the pier : what damage was 
done within could not be ascertained. '* Boulogne," 
he said, ** was certainly not a very pleasant place that 
morning ; but," he added, ** it is not my wish to injure 
the poor inhabitants, and the town is spared as much 
as the nature of the service will admit." Enough 
was done to show the enemy that they could not, with 
impunity, come outside their own ports. Nelson was 
satisfied, by what he saw, that they meant to make an 
attempt from this place, but that it was impracticable; 
for the least wind W.N.W. and they were lost. The 
ports of Flushing and Flanders were better points : 
there we could not tell by our eyes what means of 
transport were provided. From thence, therefore, if it 
came forth at all, the expedition would come: ** And 
what a forlorn undertaking! " said he. "Consider 
cross-tides, etc. As for rowing, that is impossible. 
It is perfectly right to be prepared for a mad Govern- 
ment ; but, with the active force which has been given 
me, I may pronounce it almost impracticable." 

That force had been got together with an alacrity 
which has seldom been equalled. On the 28th of July 
we were, in Nelson's own words, literally at the foun- 
dation of our fabric of defence ; and twelve days after- 
wards we were so prepared on the enemy's coast that 
he did not believe they could get three miles from their 



2i6 Robert Southey*s 

ports. The Medusa, returning to our own shores, 
anchored in the rolling ground of Harwich ; and, when 
Nelson wished to get to the Nore in her, the wind 
rendered it impossible to proceed there by the usual 
channel. In haste to be at the Nore, remembering 
that he had been a tolerable pilot for the mouth of the 
Thames in his younger days, and thinking it necessary 
that he should know all that could be known of the 
navigation, he requested the maritime surveyor of the 
coast, Mr. Spence, to get him into the Swin, by any 
channel : for neither the pilots which he had on board 
nor the Harwich ones would take charge of the ship. 
No vessel drawing more than fourteen feet had ever 
before ventured over the Naze. Mr. Spence, how- 
ever, who had surveyed the channel, carried her safely 
through. The channel has since been called Nelson's, 
though he himself wished it to be named after the 
Medusa : his name needed no new memorial. 

Nelson's eye was upon Flushing. "To take 
possession of that place," he said, " would be a 
week's expedition for four or five thousand troops." 
This, however, required a consultation with the Ad- 
miralty; and, that something might be done mean- 
time, he resolved upon attacking the Flotilla in the 
mouth of Boulogne harbour, owning, at the same 
time, that this boat- warfare was not exactly congenial 
to his feelings. Into Helvoet or Flushing he should 
be happy to lead, if Government turned their thoughts 
that way. ** While I serve," said he, ** I will do it 
actively, and to the very best of my abilities. I 
require nursing like a child," he added; "my mind 
carries me beyond my strength, and will do me up, — 
but such is my nature." 

The attack was made by the boats of the squadron 
in five divisions, under Captains Somerville, Parker, 
Cotgrave, Jones, and Conn. The previous essay had 
taught the French the weak parts of their position; 
and they had omitted no means of strengthening it, 
and of guarding against the expected attempt. The 



Life of Nelson 217 

boats put off about half-an-hour before midnight; 
but, owing- to the darkness, and the tide and hah'-tide, 
which must always make night attacks so uncertain 
on the coasts of the channel, the divisions separated. 
One could not arrive at all ; another not till near day- 
break. The others made their attack gallantly, but 
the enemy were fully prepared : every vessel was de- 
fended by long poles, headed with iron spikes, project- 
ing from their sides ; strong nettings were braced up 
to their lower yards ; they were moored by the bottom 
to the shore, and chained one to another ; they were 
strongly manned with soldiers, and protected by land 
batteries, and the shore was lined with troops. Many 
were taken possession of; and, though they could not 
have been brought out, would have been burnt, had 
not the French resorted to a mode of offence which 
they have often used, but which no other people have 
ever been wicked enough to employ. The moment 
the firing ceased on board one of their own vessels, 
they fired upon it from the shore, perfectly regardless 
of their own men. 

The commander of one of the French divisions 
acted like a generous enemy. He hailed the boats as 
they approached, and cried out, in English : ** Let me 
advise you, my brave Englishmen, to keep your dis- 
tance : you can do nothing here ; and it is only use- 
lessly shedding the blood of brave men to make the 
attempt." The French oflnclal account boasted of the 
victory. "The combat," it said, "took place in 
sight of both countries ; it w^as the first of the kind, 
and the historian would have cause to make this re- 
mark. " They guessed our loss at four or five hun- 
dred — it amounted to one hundred and seventy-two. 
In his private letters to the Admiralty Nelson affirmed 
that had our force arrived as he intended, it was not 
all the chains in France which could have prevented 
our men from bringing off the whole of the vessels. 
There had been no error committed, and never did 
Englishmen display more courage. Upon this point 



2i8 Robert Southey's 

Nelson was fully satisfied ; but he said he should never 
bring himself again to allow any attack wherein he 
was not personally concerned, and that his mind 
suffered more than if he had had a leg shot off in the 
affair. He grieved particularly for Captain Parker — 
an excellent officer, to whom he was greatly attached, 
and who had an aged father looking to him for assist- 
ance. His thigh was shattered in the action ; and the 
wound proved mortal, after some weeks of suffering 
and manly resignation. During this interval Nel- 
son's anxiety was very great. ** Dear Parker is my 
child," said he; "for I found him in distress." And 
when he received the tidings of his death, he replied : 
** You will judge of my feelings : God's will be done. 
I beg that his hair may be cut off and given me; it 
shall be buried in my grave. Poor Mr. Parker ! 
What a son has he lost ! If I were to say I was con- 
tent, I should lie ; but I shall endeavour to submit with 
all the fortitude in my power. His loss has made a 
wound in my heart which time will hardly heal. " 

He now wished to be relieved from this service. 
The country, he said, had attached a confidence to his 
name which he had submitted to, and therefore had 
cheerfully repaired to the station ; but this boat busi- 
ness, though it might be part of a great plan of in- 
vasion, could never be the only one, and he did not 
think it was a command for a vice-admiral. It was 
not that he wanted a more lucrative situation, for, 
seriously indisposed as he was, and low-spirited from 
private considerations, he did not know, if the Medi- 
terranean were vacant, that he should be equal to 
undertake it. Just at this time the peace of Amiens 
was signed. Nelson rejoiced that the experiment was 
made, but was well aware that it was an experi- 
ment; he saw what he called the misery of peace, 
unless the utmost vigilance and prudence were 
exerted : and he expressed, in bitter terms, his proper 
indignation at the manner in which the mob of London 
welcomed the French general who brought the ratifi- 



Life of Nelson 219 

cation, saying, ** that they made him ashamed of his 
country. ' ' 

He had purchased a house and estate at Merton, in 
Surrey, meaning to pass his days there in the society 
of Sir WilHam and Lady Hamilton. This place he 
had never seen, till he was now welcomed there by the 
friends to whom he had so passionately devoted him- 
self, and who were not less sincerely attached to him. 
The place, and everything which Lady Hamilton had 
done to it, delighted him ; and he declared that the 
longest liver should possess it all. The depression 
of spirits under which he had long laboured, arose 
from the disquietude in which this connection had in- 
volved him — a connection which it was not possible 
his father could behold without sorrow and dis- 
pleasure. Mr. Nelson, however, was soon convinced 
that the attachment, which Lady Nelson regarded 
with natural jealousy and resentment, did not in 
reality pass the bounds of ardent and romantic ad- 
miration : a passion which the manners and accom- 
plishments of Lady Hamilton, fascinating as they 
were, would not have been able to excite if they had 
not been accompanied by more uncommon intellectual 
endowments, and by a character which, both in its 
strength and in its weakness, resembled his own. It 
did not, therefore, require much explanation to re- 
concile him to his son — an event the more essential 
to Nelson's happiness, because, a few months after- 
wards, the good old man died, at the age of seventy- 
nine. 

Soon after the conclusion of peace, tidings arrived 
of our final and decisive successes in Egypt : in conse- 
quence of which, the Common Council voted their 
thanks to the army and navy for bringing the cam- 
paign to so glorious a conclusion. When Nelson, 
after the action of Cape St. Vincent, had been enter- 
tained at a City feast, he had observed to the Lord 
Mayor, "that, if the City continued its generosity, 
the navy would ruin them in gifts." To which the 



220 Robert Southey s 

Lord Mayor replied, putting his hand upon the 
admiral's shoulder: "Do you find victories and we 
will find rewards.'* Nelson, as he said, had kept his 
word — had doubly fulfilled his part of the contract — 
but no thanks had been voted for the battle of Copen- 
hagen ; and feeling that he and his companions in that 
day's glory had a fair and honourable claim to this 
reward, he took the present opportunity of address- 
ing a letter to the Lord Mayor, complaining of the 
omission and the injustice. *' The smallest services," 
said he, ** rendered by the army or navy to the 
country, have been always noticed by the great city 
of London, with one exception — the glorious second 
of April — a day when the greatest dangers of navi- 
gation were overcome, and the Danish force, which 
they thought impregnable, totally taken or destroyed, 
by the consummate skill of our commanders, and by 
the undaunted bravery of as gallant a band as ever 
defended the rights of this country. For myself, if 
I were only personally concerned, I should bear the 
stigma, attempted to be now first placed upon my 
brow, with humility. But, my lord, I am the natural 
guardian of the fame of the officers of the navy, army, 
and marines, who fought and so profusely bled, under 
my command, on that day. Again, I disclaim for 
myself more merit than naturally falls to a successful 
commander; but when I am called upon to speak 
of the merits of the captains of His Majesty's ships, 
and of the officers and men, whether seamen, mannes, 
or soldiers, whom I that day had the happiness to 
command, I then say, that never was the glory of 
this country upheld with more determined bravery 
than on that occasion — and, if I may be allowed to 
give an opinion as a Briton, then I say, that more 
important service was never rendered to our king and 
country. It is my duty, my lord, to prove to the 
brave fellows, my companions in danger, that I have 
not failed, at every proper place, to represent, as well 
as I am able, their bravery and meritorious conduct." 



Life of Nelson 221 

Another honour of greater import was withheld 
from the conquerors. The king had given medals to 
those captains who were engaged in the battles of 
the ist of June, of Cape St. Vincent, of Camperdown, 
and of the Nile. Then came the victory at Copen- 
hagen, which Nelson truly called the most difficult 
achievement, the hardest fought battle, the most 
glorious result that ever graced the annals of our 
country. He, of course, expected the medal ; and, 
in writing to Earl St. Vincent, said : '* He longed to 
have it, and would not give it up to be made an 
English duke." The medal, however, was not given : 
** For what reason," said Nelson, ** Lord St. Vincent 
best knows " — words plainly implying a suspicion 
that it was withheld by some feeling of jealousy ; 
and that suspicion estranged him during the remain- 
ing part of his life from one who had, at one time, 
been essentially, as well as sincerely, his friend, and 
of whose professional abilities he ever entertained the 
hij^hest opinion. 

The happiness which Nelson enjoyed in the society 
of his chosen friends was of no long continuance. 
Sir William Hamilton, who was far advanced in 
years, died early in 1803. He expired in his wife's 
arms, holding Nelson by the hand ; and almost in his 
last words left her to his protection, requesting him 
that he would see justice done her by the Govern- 
ment, as he knew what she had done for her country. 
He left him her portrait in enamel, calling him his 
dearest friend, the most virtuous, loyal, and truly 
brave character he had ever known. The codicil, 
containing this bequest, concluded with these words : 
** God bless him, and shame fall on those who do not 
say, Amen." Sir William's pension of ;^i,200 a 
year ceased with his death. Nelson applied to Mr. 
Addlngton in Lady Hamilton's behalf, stating the 
important service which she had rendered to the fleet 
at Syracuse: and Mr. Addlngton, It Is said, acknow- 
ledged that she had a just claim upon the gratitude of 



222 Robert Southey's 

the country. This barren acknowledgment was all 
that was obtained ; but a sum, equal to the pension 
which her husband had enjoyed, was settled on her by 
Nelson, and paid in monthly payments during his life. 
A few weeks after this event the war was renev/ed ; 
and the day after His Majesty's message to Parlia- 
ment, Nelson departed to take the command of the 
Mediterranean fleet. 

He took his station immediately off Toulon, and 
there, with incessant vigilance, waited for the com- 
ing out of the enemy. When he had been fourteen 
months thus employed, he received a vote of thanks 
from the City of London for his skill and persever- 
ance in blockading that port so as to prevent the 
French from putting to sea. Nelson had not for- 
gotten the wrong which the City had done to the 
Baltic fleet by their omission, and did not lose the 
opportunity which this vote afforded of recurring to 
that point. ** I do assure your Lordship," said he, 
in answer to the Lord Mayor, ** that there is not that 
man breathing who sets a higher value upon the 
thanks of his fellow-citizens of London than myself; 
but I should feel as much ashamed to receive them for 
a particular service, marked in the resolution, if I 
felt that I did not come within that line of service, as 
I should feel hurt at having a great victory passed 
over without notice. I beg to inform your Lordship 
that the port of Toulon has never been blockaded by 
me — quite the reverse. Every opportunity has been 
offered the enemy to put to sea : for it Is there that 
we hope to realise the hopes and expectations of our 
country." Nelson then remarked, that the junior 
flag-oflficers of his fleet had been omitted in this vote 
of thanks, and his surprise at the omission was ex- 
pressed with more asperity, perhaps, than an offence 
so entirely and manifestly unintentional deserved ; 
but it arose from that generous regard for the feelings 
as well as interests of all who were under his com- 
mand, which made him as much beloved in the 



Life of Nelson 223 

fleets of Britain as he was dreaded in those of the 
enemy. 

Never was any commander more beloved. He 
governed men by their reason and their affections : 
they knew that he was incapable of caprice or 
tyranny ; and they obeyed him with alacrity and joy, 
because he possessed their confidence as well as their 
love. " Our Nel," they used to say, "is as brave as 
a lion, and as gentle as a lamb." Severe discipline 
he detested, though he had been bred in a severe 
school : he never inflicted corporal punishment if it 
were possible to avoid it, and when compelled to 
enforce it, he, who was familiar with wounds and 
death, suffered like a woman. In his whole life 
Nelson was never known to act unkindly towards 
an officer. If he was asked to prosecute one for ill- 
behaviour, he used to answer : ** That there was no 
occasion for him to ruin a poor devil, who was 
suflficiently his own enemy to ruin himself.'* But in 
Nelson there was more than the easiness and 
humanity of a happy nature : he did not merely abstain 
from injury : his was an active and watchful bene- 
volence, ever desirous not only to render justice, 
but to do good. During the peace he had spoken in 
Parliament upon the abuses respecting prize-money, 
and had submitted plans to Government for more 
easily manning the navy, and preventing desertion 
from it, by bettering the condition of the seamen. 
He proposed that their certificates should be regis- 
tered, and that every man who had served, with a 
good character, five years in war, should receive a 
bounty of two guineas annually after that time, and 
of four guineas after eight years. ** This," he said, 
** might, at first sight, appear an enormous sum for 
the state to pay; but the average life of a seaman is, 
from hard service, finished at forty-five : he cannot, 
therefore, enjoy the annuity many years ; and the 
interest of the money saved by their not deserting 
would go far to pay the whole expense." 



224 Robert Southey's 

To his midshipmen he ever showed tlie most 
winning- kindness, encourag-ing the diffident, temper- 
ing the hasty, counselling and befriending both. 
" Recollect," he used to say, " that you must be a 
seaman to be an officer ; and also, that you cannot 
be a good officer without being a gentleman." A 
lieutenant wrote to him, to say that he was dissatisfied 
with his captain. Nelson's answer was in that spirit 
of perfect wisdom and perfect goodness which regu- 
lated his whole conduct toward those who were under 
his command. ** I have just received your letter, and 
I am truly sorry that any difference should arise 
between your captain, who has the reputation of 
being one of the bright officers of the service, and 
yourself, a very young man, and a very young officer, 
who must naturally have much to learn : therefore the 
chance is that you are perfectly wrong in the disagree- 
ment. However, as your present situation must be 
very disagreeable, I will certainly take an early oppor- 
tunity of removing you, provided your conduct to 
your present captain be such that another may not 
refuse to receive you." The gentleness and benignity 
of his disposition never made him forget what was 
due to discipline. Being on one occasion applied to, 
to save a young officer from a court-martial which 
he had provoked by his misconduct, his reply was : 
** That he would do everything in his power to oblige 
so gallant and good an officer as Sir John Warren," 
in whose name the intercession had been made : ** But 
what," he added, ** would he do if he were here? — 
Exactly what I have done, and am still willing to 
do. The young man must write such a letter of con- 
trition as would be an acknowledgment of his great 
fault; and with a sincere promise, if his captain will 
intercede to prevent the impending court-martial, 
never to so misbehave again. On his captain's 
inclosing me such a letter, with a request to cancel 
the order for the trial, I might be induced to do it : 
but the letters and reprimand will be given in the 



Life of Nelson 225 

public order-book of the fleet, and read to all the 
officers. The young- man has pushed himself forward 
to notice, and he must take the consequence. It was 
upon the quarter-deck, in the face of the ship's com- 
pany, that he treated his captain with contempt; and 
I am in duty bound to support the authority and 
consequence of every officer under my command. A 
poor ignorant seaman is for ever punished for con- 
tempt to his superiors." 

A dispute occurred in the fleet, while it was off 
Toulon, which called forth Nelson's zeal for the 
rights and interests of the navy. Some young artil- 
lery officers, serving on board the bomb vessels, 
refused to let their men perform any other duty but 
what related to the mortars. They wished to have it 
established that their corps was not subject to the 
captain's authority. The same pretensions were 
made in the Channel fleet about the same time; and 
the artillery rested their claims to separate and inde- 
pendent authority on board, upon a clause in the Act, 
which they interpreted in their favour. Nelson took 
up the subject with all the earnestness which its im- 
portance deserved. " There is no real happiness in 
this world," said he, writing to Earl St. Vincent, as 
First Lord. ** With all content and smiles around 
me, up start these artillery boys (I understand they 
are not beyond that age), and set us at defiance, 
speaking in the most disrespectful manner of the navy 
and its commanders. I know you, my dear Lord, so 
well, that with your quickness the matter would have 
been settled, and perhaps some of them been broke. 
I am, perhaps, more patient, but, I do assure you, not 
less resolved, if my plan of conciliation is not attended 
to. You and I are on the eve of quitting the theatre 
of our exploits ; but we hold it to our successors 
never, while we have a tongue to speak or a hand to 
write, to allow the navy to be, in the smallest degree, 
injured in its discipline by our conduct." To Trow- 
bridge he wrote in the same spirit. "It is the old 

Q 



226 Robert Southey's 

history, trying to do away the Act of Parliament: 
but I trust they will never succeed, for when they do, 
farewell to our naval superiority. We should be 
prettily commanded ! Let them once gain the step 
of being independent of the navy on board a ship, and 
they will soon have the other, and command us. But, 
thank God ! my dear Trowbridge, the king himself 
cannot do away the Act of Parliament. Although my 
career is nearly run, yet it would embitter my future 
days and expiring moments to hear of our navy being 
sacrificed to the army." As the surest way of pre- 
venting such disputes, he suggested that the navy 
should have its own corps of artillery ; and a corps of 
marine artillery was accordingly established. 

Instead of lessening the power of the commander, 
Nelson would have wished to see it increased : it was 
absolutely necessary, he thought, that merit should 
be rewarded at the moment, and that the officers of 
the fleet should look up to the commander-in-chief for 
their reward. He himself was never more happy than 
when he could promote those who were deserving 
of promotion. Many were the services which he thus 
rendered unsolicited, and frequently the officer, in 
whose behalf he had interested himself with the 
Admiralty, did not know to whose friendly inter- 
ference he was indebted for his good fortune. He 
used to say, ** I wish it to appear as a God-send." 
The love which he bore the navy made him promote 
the interests, and honour the memory, of all who 
had added to its glories. * * The near relations of 
brother-officers," he said, ** he considered as legacies 
to the service." Upon mention being made to him of 
a son of Rodney by the Duke of Clarence, his reply 
was: ** I agree with your Royal Highness most 
entirely that the son of a Rodney ought to be the 
protig6 of every person in the kingdom, and par- 
ticularly of the sea officers. Had I known that there 
had been this claimant, some of my own lieutenants 
must have given way to such a name, and he should 



Life of Nelson 227 

have been placed in the Victory : she is full, and I 
have twenty on my list; but, whatever numbers I 
have, the name of Rodney must cut many of them 
out." Such was the proper sense which Nelson felt 
of what was due to splendid services and illustrious 
names. His feelings toward the brave men who had 
served with him are shown by a note in his diary, 
which was probably not intended for any other eye 
than his own. — '* Nov. 7. I had the comfort of 
making an old Agamemnoriy George Jones, a gunner, 
into the Chameleon brig." 

When Nelson took the command, it was expected 
that the Mediterranean would be an active scene. 
Nelson well understood the character of the perfidious 
Corsican, who was now sole tyrant of France; and 
knowing that he was as ready .to attack his friends 
as his enemies, knew, therefore, that nothing could 
be more uncertain than the direction of the fleet from 
Toulon, whenever it should put to sea : ** It had as 
many destinations," he said, ** as there were 
countries." The momentous revolutions of the last 
ten years had given him ample matter for reflection, 
as well as opportunities for observation : the film was 
cleared from his eyes; and now, when the French no 
longer went abroad with the cry of liberty and 
equality, he saw that the oppression and misrule of 
the powers which had been opposed to them had been 
the main causes of their success, and that those causes 
would still prepare the way before them. Even in 
Sicily, where, if it had been possible longer to blind 
himself, Nelson would willingly have seen no evil, he 
perceived that the people wished for a change, and 
acknowledged that they had reason to wish for it. 
In Sardinia the same burden of misgovernment was 
felt; and the people, like the Sicilians, were im- 
poverished by a government so utterly incompetent to 
perform its first and most essential duties, that it did 
not protect its own coasts from the Barbary pirates. 
He would fain have had us purchase this island (the 



228 Robert Southey's 

finest in the Mediterranean) from its sovereign, who 
did not receive ;^5,ooo a year from it, after its 
wretched establishment was paid. There was reason 
to tlcAnk that France was preparing to possess her- 
self of this important point, which afforded our fleet 
facilities for watching Toulon, not to be obtained 
elsewhere. An expedition was preparing at Corsica 
for the purpose; and all the Sardes, who had taken 
part with revolutionary France, were ordered to 
assemble there. It was certain that if the attack were 
made, it would succeed. Nelson thought that the 
only means to prevent Sardinia from becoming French 
was to make it English, and that half a million would 
give the king a rich price, and England a cheap pur- 
chase. A better, and therefore a wiser policy, would 
have been to exert our influence in removing the 
abuses of the Government; for foreign dominion is 
always, in some degree, an evil, and allegiance 
neither can nor ought to be made a thing of bargain 
and sale. Sardinia, like Sicily, and Corsica, is large 
enough to form a separate state. Let us hope that 
these islands may, ere long, be made free and inde- 
pendent. Freedom and independence will bring with 
them industry and prosperity ; and wherever these are 
found, arts and letters will flourish, and the improve- 
men of the human race proceed. 

The proposed attack was postponed. Views of 
wider ambition were opening upon Buonaparte, who 
now almost undisguisedly aspired to make himself 
master of the continent of Europe; and Austria was 
preparing for another struggle, to be conducted as 
weakly, and terminated as miserably, as the former. 
Spain, too, was once more to be involved in war by 
the policy of France, that perfidious Government 
having in view the double object of employing the 
Spanish resources against England, and exhausting 
them, in order to render Spain herself finally its prey. 
Nelson, who knew that England and the Peninsula 
ought to be in alliance for the common interest of 



Life of Nelson 229 

both, frequently expressed his hopes that Spain might 
resume her natural rank among the nations. '' We 
ought," he said, ** by mutual consent, to be the very 
best friends, and both to be ever hostile to France." 
But he saw that Buonaparte was meditating- the 
destruction of Spain ; and that, while the wretched 
court of Madrid professed to remain neutral, the 
appearances of neutrality were scarcely preserved. 
An order of the year 1771, excluding British ships of 
war from the Spanish ports, was revived and put in 
force, while French privateers from these very ports 
annoyed the British trade, carried their prizes in, 
and sold them even at Barcelona. Nelson complained 
of this to the captain-general of Catalonia, informing 
him that he claimed, for every British ship or squad- 
ron, the right of lying, as long as it pleased, in the 
ports of Spain, while that right was allowed to other 
powers. To the British ambassador he said : '* I am 
ready to make large allowances for the miserable 
situation Spain has placed herself in ; but there is a 
certain line beyond which I cannot submit to be 
treated with disrespect. We have given up French 
vessels taken within gunshot of the Spanish shore, and 
yet French vessels are permitted to attack our ships 
from the Spanish shore. Your Excellency may assure 
the Spanish Government, that in whatever place the 
Spaniards allow the French to attack us, in that place 
I shall order the French to be attacked." 

During this state of things, to which the weak- 
ness of Spain, and not her will, consented, the 
enemy's fleet did not venture to put to sea. Nelson 
watched it with unremitting and almost unexampled 
perseverance. The station off Toulon he called his 
home. '* We are in the right fighting trim," said 
he; ** let them come as soon as they please. I never 
saw a fleet, altogether, so well officered and manned : 
would to God the ships were half as good ! The finest 
ones in the service would soon be destroyed by such 
terrible weather. I know well enough, that if I were 



230 Robert Southey's 

10 go into Malta I should save the ships during this 
bad season : but, if I am to watch the French, I must 
be at sea ; and, if at sea, must have bad weather : 
and if the ships are not fit to stand bad weather, they 
are useless." Then only he was satisfied, and at ease, 
when he had the enemy in view. Mr. Elliot, our 
minister at Naples, seems, at this time, to have pro- 
posed to send a confidential Frenchman to him with 
information. ** I should be very happy," he replied, 
** to receive authentic intelligence of the destination 
of the French squadron, their route, and time of 
sailing. Anything short of this is useless ; and I 
assure your Excellency, that I would not, upon any 
consideration, have a Frenchman in the fleet, except 
as a prisoner. I put no confidence in them. You 
think yours good ; the queen thinks the same : I 
believe they are all alike. Whatever information you 
can get me, I shall be very thankful for; but not a 
Frenchman comes here. Forgive me, but my mother 
hated the French." 

M. Latouche Treville, who had commanded at Bou- 
logne, commanded now at Toulon. " He was sent 
for on purpose," said Nelson, '* as he heat me at Bou- 
logne, to beat me again : but he seems very loath to 
try." One day, while the main body of our fleet was 
out of sight of land, Rear-Admiral Campbell, recon- 
noitring with the CanopuSy Donegaly and Amazon, 
stood in close to the port; and M. Latouche, taking 
advantage of a breeze which sprung up, pushed out, 
with four ships of the line and three heavy frigates, 
and chased him about four leagues. The French- 
man, delighted at having found himself in so novel a 
situation, published a boastful account, aflfirming that 
he had given chase to the whole British fleet, and that 
Nelson had fled before him ! Nelson thought it due 
to the Admiralty to send home a copv of the Victory's 
log upon this occasion. '* As for himself," he said, 
** if his character was not established by that time 
for not being apt to run away, it was not worth his 



Life of Nelson 231 

while to put the world right." ** If this fleet gets 
fairly up with M. Latouche," said he to one of his 
correspondents, " his letter, with all his ingenuity, 
must be different from his last. We had fancied that 
we chased him into Toulon; for, blind as I am, I 
could see his water-line, when he clued his topsails up, 
shutting in Sepet. But, from the time of his meeting 
Captain Hawker, in the IsiSy I never heard of his 
acting otherwise than as a poltroon and a liar. Con- 
tempt is the best mode of treating such a miscreant." 
In spite, however, of contempt, the impudence of this 
Frenchman half angered him. He said to his 
brother : ** You will have seen Latouche's letter; how 
he chased me, and how I ran. I keep it : and if I take 
him, by God he shall eat it." 

Nelson, who used to say that in sea affairs nothing 
is impossible and nothing improbable, feared the 
more that this Frenchman might get out and elude 
his vigilance, because he was so especially desirous of 
catching him, and administering to him his own lying 
letter in a sandwich. M. Latouche, however, escaped 
him in another way. He died, according to the 
French papers, in consequence of walking so often 
up to the signal-posts upon Sepet, to watch the 
British fleet. ** I always pronounced that would be 
his death," said Nelson. "If he had but come out 
and fought me, it would, at least, have added ten 
years to my life." The patience with which he had 
watched Toulon, he spoke of, truly, as a perseverance 
at sea which had never been surpassed. From May, 
1803, to August, 1805, he himself went out of his ship 
but three times : each of those times was upon the 
king's service, and neither time of absence exceeded 
an hour. The weather had been so unusually severe, 
that, he said, the Mediterranean seemed altered. It 
was his rule never to contend with the gales, but 
either run to the southward to escape their violence, 
or furl all the sails, and make the ships as easy as 
possible. The men, though he said flesh and blood 



232 Robert Southey's 

could hardly stand it, continued in excellent health, 
which he ascribed, in great measure, to a plentiful 
supply of lemons and onions. For himself, he 
thought he could only last till the battle was over. 
One battle more it was his hope that he might fight. 
** However," said he, ** whatever happens, I have run 
a glorious race." He was afraid of blindness, and 
this was the only evil which he could not contemplate 
without unhappiness. More alarming symptoms he 
regarded with less apprehension, describing his own 
** shattered carcass " as in the worst plight of any in 
the fleet : and he says, ** I have felt the blood gushing 
up the left side of my head, and the moment it covers 
the brain, I am fast asleep." The fleet was in worse 
trim than the men, but when he compared it with the 
enemy's, it was with a right English feeling. ** The 
French fleet yesterday," said he, in one of his letters, 
** was to appearance in high feather, and as fine as 
paint could make them, — but when they may sail, or 
where they may go, I am very sorry to say is a secret 
I am not acquainted with. Our weather-beaten ships, 
I have no fear, will make their sides like a plum- 
pudding." 

Hostilities at length commenced between Great 
Britain and Spain. That country, whose miserable 
Government made her subservient to France, was 
once more destined to lavish her resources and her 
blood in furtherance of the designs of a perfidious ally. 
The immediate occasion of the war was the seizure of 
four treasure-ships by the English. The act was per- 
fectly justifiable, for those treasures were intended to 
furnish means for France; but the circumstances 
which attended it were as unhappy as they were un- 
foreseen. Four frigates had been despatched to inter- 
cept them. They met with an equal force. Resist- 
ance, therefore, became a point of honour on the part 
of the Spaniards, and one of their ships soon blew up, 
with all on board. Had a stronger squadron been 
sent, this deplorable catastrophe might have been 



Life of Nelson 233 

spared — a catastrophe which excited not more indigna- 
tion in Spain than it did grief in those who were its 
unwilling instruments, in the English Government, 
and in the English people. On the 5th of October this 
unhappy affair occurred, and Nelson was not apprised 
of it till the i2th of the ensuing month. He had, in- 
deed, sufficient mortification at the breaking out of the 
Spanish war — an event which, it might reasonably 
have been supposed, would amply enrich the officers of 
the Mediterranean, and repay them for the severe and 
unremitting duty on w4iich they had been so long 
employed. But of this harvest they were deprived ; 
for Sir John Orde was sent with a small squadron, 
and a separate command, to Cadiz. Nelson's feel- 
ings were never wounded so deeply as now. ** I had 
thought," said he, writing in the first flow and fresh- 
ness of indignation; ** I fancied, — but, nay; it must 
have been a dream, an idle dream, — yet, I confess 
it, I did fancy that I had done my country service; 
and thus they use me ! — And under what circum- 
stances, and with what pointed aggravation ! Yet, if 
I know my own thoughts, it is not for myself, or on 
my own account chiefly, that I feel the sting and the 
disappointment. No ! it is for my brave officers ; for 
my noble-minded friends and comrades. Such a gal- 
lant set of fellows ! Such a band of brothers ! My 
heart swells at the thought of them.** 

War between Spain and England was now declared ; 
and on the i8th of January the Toulon fleet, having 
the Spaniards to co-operate with them, put to sea. 
Nelson was at anchor off the coast of Sardinia, where 
the Madelena islands form one of the finest harbours 
in the world, when, at three in the afternoon of the 
19th, the Active and Seahorse frigates brought this 
long-hoped-for intelligence. They had been close to 
the enemy at ten on the preceding night, but lost sight 
of them in about four hours. The fleet immediately 
unmoored and weighed, and at six in the evening ran 
through the strait between Biche and Sardinia — a pas- 



234 Robert Southey s 

sagfe so narrow, that the ships could only pass one at 
a time, each following the stern lights of its leader. 
From the position of the enemy, when they were last 
seen, it was inferred that they must be bound round 
the southern end of Sardinia. Signal was made the 
next morning to prepare for battle. Bad weather 
came on, baffling the one fleet in its object, and the 
other in its pursuit. Nelson beat about the Sicilian 
seas for ten days, without obtaining any other infor- 
mation of the enemy than that one of their 
ships had put into Ajaccio dismasted; and hav- 
ing seen that Sardinia, Naples, and Sicily were 
safe, believing Egypt to be their destination, for 
Egypt he ran. The disappointment and distress 
which he had experienced in his former pursuit of the 
French through the same seas were now renewed : 
but Nelson, while he endured these anxious and un- 
happy feelings, was still consoled by the same con- 
fidence as on the former occasion, that, though his 
judgment might be erroneous, under all circumstances 
he was right in having formed it. ** I have consulted 
no man," said he to the Admiralty; "therefore the 
whole blame of ignorance in forming my judgment 
must rest with me. I would allow no man to take 
from me an atom of my glory had I fallen in with the 
French fleet; nor do I desire any man to partake any 
of the responsibility. All is mine, right or wrong.'* 
Then, stating the grounds upon which he had pro- 
ceeded, he added : "At this moment of sorrow I 
still feel I have acted right." In the same spirit he 
said to Sir Alexander Ball : ** When I call to remem- 
brance all the circumstances, I approve, if nobody 
else does, of my own conduct." 

Baffled thus, he bore up for Malta, and met intelli- 
gence from Naples that the French, having been dis- 
persed in a gale, had put back to Toulon. From the 
same quarter he learnt that a great number of saddles 
and muskets had been embarked ; and this confirmed 
him in his opinion that Egypt was their destination. 



Life of Nelson 235 

That they should have put back in consequence of 
storms, which he had weathered, gave him a consol- 
ing sense of British superiority. ** These gentle- 
men," said he, ** are not accustomed to a Gulf of 
Lyons' gale : we have buffeted them for one-and- 
twenty months, and not carried away a spar." He, 
however, who had so often braved these gales, was 
now, though not mastered by them, vexatiously 
thwarted and impeded : and on February 27th he was 
compelled to anchor in Pulla Bay, in the Gulf of 
Cagliari. From the 21st of January the fleet had 
remained ready for battle, without a bulkhead up, 
night or day. He anchored here, that he might not be 
driven to leeward. As soon as the weather moderated 
he put to sea again; and, after again beating about 
against contrary winds, another gale drove him to 
anchor in the Gulf of Palma, on the 8th of March. 
This he made his rendezvous ; he knew that the 
French troops still remained embarked, and wishing 
to lead them into a belief that he was stationed upon 
the Spanish coast, he made his appearance off Bar- 
celona with that intent. About the end of the month 
he began to fear that the plan of expedition was aban- 
doned ; and sailing once more towards his old station 
off Toulon, on the 4th of April he met the Phoehe, with 
news that Villeneuve had put to sea on the last of 
March with eleven ships of the line, seven frigates, 
and two brigs. When last seen, they were steering 
toward the coast of Africa. Nelson first covered the 
channel between Sardinia and Barbary, so as to 
satisfy himself that Villeneuve was not taking the 
same route for Egypt which Gantheaume had taken 
before him, when he attempted to carry reinforce- 
ments there. Certain of this, he bore up on the 7th 
for Palermo, lest the French should have passed to 
the north of Corsica, and he despatched cruisers in 
all directions. On the nth he felt assured that they 
were not gone down the Mediterranean ; and sending 
off frigates to Gibraltar, to Lisbon, and to Admiral 



236 Robert Southey's 

Cornwallis, who commanded the squadron off Brest, 
he endeavoured to get to the westward, beating 
against westerly winds. After five days, a neutral 
gave intelligence that the French had been seen off 
Cape de Gatte on the 7th. It was soon afterwards 
ascertained that they had passed the Straits of Gib- 
raltar on the day follov/ing; and Nelson, knov.-ing 
that they might already be half-way to Ireland or 
Jamaica, exclaimed that he was miserable. One 
gleam of comfort only came across him in the 
reflection that his vigilance had rendered it impossi- 
ble for them to undertake any expedition in the 
Mediterranean. 

Eight days after this certain intelligence had been 
obtained, he describes his state of mind thus forcibly, 
in writing to the Governor of Malta : " My good for- 
tune, my dear Ball, seems flown away. I cannot get 
a fair wind, or even a side v/ind. Dead foul ! — Dead 
foul ! — But my mind is fully made up what to do 
when I leave the Straits, supposing there is no certain 
account of the enemy's destination. I believe this 
ill-luck will go near to kill me ; but, as these are times 
for exertion, I must not be cast down, whatever I 
may feel." In spite of every exertion which could 
be made by all the zeal and all the skill of British sea- 
men, he did not get in sight of Gibraltar till the 30th 
of April; and the wind was then so adverse, that it 
was impossible to pass the Gut. He anchored in 
Mazari Bay, on the Barbary shore; obtained supplies 
from Tetuan; and when, on the 5th, a breeze from 
the eastward sprang up at last, sailed once more, 
hoping to hear of the enemy from Sir John Orde, 
who commanded off Cadiz, or from Lisbon. ** If no- 
thing is heard of them," said he to the Admiralty, 
" I shall probably think the rumours which have been 
spread are true, that their object is the West Indies ; 
and, in that case, I think it my duty to follow them, — 
or to the Antipodes, should I believe that to be their 
destination." At the time when this resolution was 



Life of Nelson 237 

taken, the physician of the fleet had ordered him to 
return to Engla/id before the hot months. 

Nelson had formed his judgment of their destina- 
tion, and made up his mind accordingly, when 
Donald Campbell, at that time an Admiral in the 
Portuguese service, the same person who had given 
important tidings to Earl St. Vincent of the move- 
ments of that fleet from which he won his title, a 
second time gave timely and momentous intelligence 
to the flag of his country. He went on board the 
Victory J and communicated to Nelson his certain 
knowledge that the combined Spanish and French 
fleets were bound for the West Indies. Hitherto all 
things had favoured the enemy. While the British 
commander was beating up against strong southerly 
and westerly gales, they had wind to their wish from 
the N.E. ; and had done in nine days what he was a 
whole month in accomplishing. Villeneuve, finding 
the Spaniards at Carthagena were not in a state of 
equipment to join him, dared not wait, but hastened 
on to Cadiz. Sir John Orde necessarily retired at his 
approach. Admiral Gravina, with six Spanish ships 
of the line and two French, came out to him, and they 
sailed without a moment's loss of time. They had 
about three thousand French troops on board, and 
fifteen hundred Spanish : — ^six hundred were under 
orders, expecting them at Martinique, and one 
thousand at Guadaloupe. General Lauriston com- 
manded the troops. The combined fleet now consisted 
of eighteen sail of the line, six forty-four gun frigates, 
one of twenty-six guns, three corvettes, and a brig. 
They were joined afterwards by two French line of 
battle ships, and one forty-four. Nelson pursued them 
with ten sail of the line and three frigates. ** Take 
you a Frenchman apiece," said he to his captains, 
*'and leave me the Spaniards: — when I haul down 
my colours I expect you to do the same, — and not 
till then." 

The enemy had five-and-thirty days' start; but he 



238 Robert Southey's 

calculated that he should gain eight or ten days upon 
them by his exertions. May 15th he made Madeira, 
and on June 4th reached Barbadoes, whither he had 
sent despatches before him; and where he found 
Admiral Cochrane, with two ships, part of our 
squadron on those seas being at Jamaica. He found 
here also accounts that the combined fleets had been 
seen from St. Lucia on the 28th, standing to the 
southward, and that Tobago and Trinidad were their 
objects. This Nelson doubted ; but he was alone in 
his opinion, and yielded it with these foreboding 
words : "If your intelligence proves false, you lose 
me the French lleet. " Sir William Myers offered to 
embark here with two thousand troops ; they were 
taken on board, and the next morning he sailed for 
Tobago. Here accident confirmed the false intelli- 
gence which had, whether from intention or error, 
misled him. A merchant at Tobago, in the general 
alarm, not knowing whether this fleet was friend or 
foe, sent out a schooner to reconnoitre, and acquaint 
him by signal. The signal which he had chosen hap- 
pened to be the very one which had been appointed 
by Colonel Shipley of the engineers, to signify that 
the enemy were at Trinidad ; and, as this was at the 
close of day, there was no opportunity of discovering 
the mistake. An American brig was met with about 
the same time; the master of which, with that pro- 
pensity to deceive the English and assist the French 
in any manner, which has been but too common 
among his countrymen, affirmed, that he had been 
boarded off Granada a few days before by the French, 
who were standing towards the Bocas of Trinidad. 
This fresh intelligence removed all doubts. The ships 
were cleared for action before daylight, and Nelson 
entered the Bay of Paria on the 7th, hoping and ex- 
pecting to make the mouths of the Orinoco as famous 
in the annals of the British navy as those of the Nile. 
Not an enemy was there ; and it was discovered that 
accident and artifice had combined to lead him so 



Life of Nelson 239 

far to leeward, that there could have been little hope 
of fetching- to windward of Granada for any other 
fleet. Nelson, however, with skill and exertions never 
exceeded, and almost unexampled, bore for that 
island. 

Advices met him on the way that the combined 
fleets, having- captured the Diamond Rock, were then 
at Martinique, on the 4th, and were expected to sail 
that night for the attack of Granada. On the 9th 
Nelson arrived off that island ; and there learnt that 
they had passed to leeward of Antigua the preceding 
day, and taken a homeward-bound convoy. Had it 
not been for false information, upon which Nelson 
had acted reluctantly, and in opposition to his own 
judgment, he would have been off Port Royal just as 
they were leaving it, and the battle would have been 
fought on the spot where Rodney defeated De Grasse. 
This he remembered in his vexation ; but he had saved 
the colonies, and above two hundred ships laden for 
Europe, which would else have fallen into the enemy's 
hands ; and he had the satisfaction of knowing that 
the mere terror of his name had effected this, and 
had put to flight the allied enemies, whose force nearly 
doubled that before which they fled. That they were 
flying back to Europe he believed, and for Europe 
he steered in pursuit on the 13th, having disembarked 
the troops at Antigua, and taking with him the 
Spartiate, 74 : — the only addition to the squadron with 
which he was pursuing so superior a force. Five 
days afterwards the Amazon brought intelligence that 
she had spoke a schooner who had seen them, on 
the evening of the 15th, steering to the N., and, by 
computation, eighty-seven leagues off. Nelson's 
diary at this time denotes his great anxiety, and his 
perpetual and all-observing vigilance. — ** June 21. 
Midnight, nearly calm, saw three planks, which I 
think came from the French fleet. Very miserable, 
which is very foolish." On the 17th of July he came 
in sight of Cape St. Vincent, and steered for Gibral- 



240 Robert Southey's 

tar. — *' July i8th," his diary says, '* Cape Spartel in 
sight, but no French fleet, nor any information about 
them. How sorrowful this makes me ! but I cannot 
help myself." The next day he anchored at Gibral- 
tar; and on the 20th, says he, 'M went on shore for 
the first time since June i6th, 1803; and from having 
my foot out of the Victory y two years, wanting ten 
days." 

Here he communicated with his old friend Colling- 
wood, who, having been detached with a squadron, 
when the disappearance of the combined fleets, and 
of Nelson in their pursuit, was known in England, 
had taken his station off Cadiz. He thought that 
Ireland was the enemy's ultimate object, — that they 
would now liberate the Ferrol squadron, which was 
blocked up by Sir Robert Calder, — call for the Roche- 
fort ships, and then appear off Ushant with three 
or four-and-thirty sail ; there to be joined by the Brest 
fleet. With this great force he supposed they would 
make for Ireland, — the real mark and bent of all their 
operations : and their flight to the West Indies, he 
thought, had been merely undertaken to take off Nel- 
son's force, which was the great impediment to their 
undertaking. 

Collingwood was gifted with great political pene- 
tration. As yet, however, all was conjecture con- 
cerning the enemy ; and Nelson having victualled and 
watered at Tetuan, stood for Ceuta on the 24th, still 
without information of their course. Next day intelli- 
gence arrived that the Curieux brig had seen them 
on the 19th, standing to the northward. He pro- 
ceeded off Cape St. Vincent, rather cruising for 
intelligence than knowing whither to betake himself : 
and here a case occurred, that more than any other 
event in real history resembles those whimsical proofs 
of sagacity which Voltaire, in his Zadig, has bor- 
rowed from the Orientals. One of our frigates spoke 
an American, who, a little to the westward of the 
Azores, had fallen in with an armed vessel, appearing 



Life of Nelson 241 

to be a dismasted privateer, deserted by her crew, 
which had been run on board by another ship, and had 
been set fire to; but the fire had gone out. A log- 
book, and a few seamen's jackets, were found in the 
cabin; and these were brought to Nelson. The log- 
book closed with these words : ** Two large vessels in 
the W.N.W."; and this led him to conclude that the 
vessel had been an English privateer, cruising off the 
Western Islands. But there was in this book a scrap 
of dirty paper, filled with figures. Nelson, immediately 
upon seeing it, observed that the figures were written 
by a Frenchman ; and, after studyinjs^ this for a while, 
said, ** I can explain the whole. The jackets are of 
French manufacture, and prove that the privateer was 
in possession of the enemy. She had been chased and 
taken by the two ships that were seen in the W.N.W. 
The prize-master, going on board in a hurry, forgot 
to take with him his reckoning : there is none in the 
log-book; and the dirty paper contains her work for 
the number of days since the privateer last left Corvo : 
with an unaccounted-for run, which I take to have 
been the chase, in his endeavour to find out her 
situation by back reckonings. By some mismanage- 
ment, I conclude, she was run on board of by one of 
the enemy's ships, and dismasted. Not liking delay 
(for I am satisfied that those two ships were the 
advanced ones of the French squadron), and fancymg 
we were close at their heels, they set fire to the 
vessel, and abandoned her in a hurry. If this explana- 
tion be correct, I infer from it that they are gone 
more to the northward; and more to the northward 
I will look for them.'* This course accordingly he 
held, but still without success. Still persevering, and 
still disappointed, he returned near enough to Cadiz 
to ascertain that they were not there ; traversed the Bay 
of Biscay; and then, as a last hope, stood over for the 
north-west coast of Ireland, against adverse winds, till 
on the evening of the 12th of August, he learnt that 
they had not been heard of there. Frustrated thus in 

R 



242 Robert Southey's 

all his hopes, after a pursuit, to which, for its extent, 
rapidity, and perseverance, no parallel can be pro- 
duced, he judged it best to reinforce the Channel fleet 
with his squadron, lest the enemy, as Collingwood 
apprehended, should bear down upon Brest with their 
whole collected force. On the 15th he joined Admiral 
Cornwallis off Ushant. No news had yet been 
obtained of the enemy; and on the same evening he 
received orders to proceed, with the Victory and 
Superb, to Portsmouth. 



CHAPTER IX 

At Portsmouth, Nelson, at length, found news of 
the combined fleet. Sir Robert Calder, who had been 
sent out to intercept their return, had fallen in with 
them on the 22nd of July, sixty leagues west of Cape 
Finisterre. Their force consisted of twenty sail of 
the line, three fifty-gun ships, five frigates, and two 
brigs ; his, of fifteen line of battle ships, two frigates, 
a cutter, and a lugger. After an action of four hours 
he had captured an 84 and a 74, and then thought it 
necessary to bring-to the squadron, for the purpose of 
securing their prizes. The hostile fleets remained in 
sight of each other till the 26th, when the enemy bore 
away. The capture of two ships from so superior a 
force would have been considered as no inconsider- 
able victory a few years earlier; but Nelson had 
introduced a new era in our naval history, and the 
nation felt, respecting this action, as he had felt on 
a somewhat similar occasion. They regretted that 
Nelson, with his eleven ships, had not been in Sir 
Robert Calder 's place; and their disappointment was 
generally and loudly expressed. 

Frustrated as his own hopes had been, Nelson had 



Life of Nelson \ 243: 

yet the High satisfacticJn of knowing that his judg- 
ment had. never been more conspicuously approved, 
and that he had rendered essential service to his 
country by driving the enemy from those islands, 
where they expected there could be no force capable 
of opposing them. The West India merchants in 
London, as men whose interests were more immedi- 
ately benefited, appointed a deputation to express their 
thanks for his great and judicious exertions. It was 
now his intention to rest awhile from his labours, and 
recruit himself, after all his fatigues and cares, in 
the society of those whom he loved. All his stores 
were brought up from the Victory ; and he found in 
his house at Merton the enjoyment which he had 
anticipated. Many days had not elapsed before 
Captain Blackwood, on his way to London with 
despatches, called on him at five in the morning. Nel- 
son, who was already dressed, exclaimed, the moment 
he saw him : ** I am sure you bring me news of the 
French and Spanish fleets ! I think I shall yet have 
to beat them ! " They had refitted at VigOj after the 
indecisive action with Sir Robert Calder; then pro- 
ceeded to Ferrol, brought out the squadron from 
thence, and with it entered Cadiz in safety. ** Depend 
on it, Blackwood, ■' he repeatedly said, ** I shall yet 
give M. Villeneuve a drubbing." But, when Black- 
wood had left him, he wanted resolution to declare 
his wishes to Lady Hamilton and his sisters, and 
endeavoured to drive away the thought. '* He had 
done enough," he said ; "let the man trudge it who 
has lost his budget!" His countenance belied his 
lips; and as he was pacing one of the walks in the 
garden, which he used to call the quarter-deck. Lady 
Hamilton came up to him, and told him she saw he 
was uneasy. He smiled, and said : ** No, he was as 
happy as possible; he was surrounded by his family, 
his health was better since he had been On shore, and 
he would not give sixpence to call the king his uncle. " 
She rephed that she did- not believe him, — that she 



244 Robert Southey*s 

knew he was longing to get at the combined fleets, — 
that he considered them as his own property, — that he 
would be miserable if any man but himself did the 
business, and that he ought to have them, as the price 
and reward of his two years* long watching, and his 
hard chase. ** Nelson," said she, ** however we may 
lament jrour absence, offer your services ;^ — they will 
be accepted, and you will gain a quiet heart by it : you 
will have a glorious victory, and then you may return 
here and be happy.** He looked at her with tears in 
his eyes — ** Brave Emma ! — Good Emma ! — If there 
were more Emmas, there would be more Nelsons.*' 

His services were as willingly accepted as they 
were offered; and Lord Barham, giving him the list 
of the navy, desired him to choose his own officers. 
"Choose yourself, my lord," was his reply: **the 
same spirit actuates the whole profession : you cannot 
choose wrong.** Lord Barham then desired him to 
say what ships, and how many, he would wish, in 
addition to the fleet which he was going to command, 
and said they should follow him as soon as each was 
ready. No appointment was ever more in unison with 
the feelings and judgment of the whole nation. They, 
like Lady Hamilton, thought that the destruction of 
the combined fleets ought properly to be Nelson *s 
work : that he, who had been 

" Half around the sea-girt ball. 
The hunter of the recreant Gaul." 

ought to reap the spoils of the chase, which he had 
watched so long, and so perseveringly pursued. 

Unremitting exertions were made to equip the ships 
which he had chosen, and especially to refit the Vic- 
tory, which was once more to bear his flag. Before 
he left London he called at his upholsterer *s, where 
the coffin, which Captain Hallowell had given him, 
was deposited; and desired that its history might be 
engraven upon the lid, saying, it was highly probable 
that he might want it on his return. He seemed, in- 



Life of Nelson 245 

deed, to have been impressed with an expectation 
that he should fall in the battle. In a letter to his 
brother, written immediately after his return, he had 
said: '* We must not talk of Sir Robert Calder's 
battle — I might not have done so much with my small 
force. If I had fallen in with them, you might prob- 
ably have been a lord before I wished; for I know 
they meant to make a dead set at the Victory,** Nel- 
son had once regarded the prospect of death with 
gloomy satisfaction : it was when he anticipated the 
upbraidings of his wife, and the displeasure of his 
venerable father. The state of his feelings now was 
expressed, in his private journal, in these words : 
** Friday night (Sept. 13), at half-past ten, I drove 
from dear, dear Merton, where I left all which I hold 
dear in this world, to go to serve my king and coun- 
try. May the great God, whom I adore, enable me 
to fulfil the expectations of my country ! and, if it is 
His good pleasure that I should return, my thanks will 
never cease being offered up to the throne of His 
mercy. If it is His good providence to cut short my 
days upon earth, I bow with the greatest submission ; 
relying that He will protect those so dear to me, whom 
I may leave behind I His will be done ! Amen ! 
Amen ! Amen ! " 

Early on the following morning he reached Ports- 
mouth ; and, having despatched his business on shore, 
endeavoured to elude the populace by taking a by- 
way to the beach ; but a crowd collected in his train, 
pressing forward to obtain a sight of his face ; — ^many 
were in tears, and many knelt down before him, and 
blessed him as he passed. England has had many 
heroes, but never one who so entirely possessed the 
love of his fellow-countrymen as Nelson. All men 
knew that his heart was as humane as it was fearless ; 
that there was not in his nature the slightest alloy of 
selfishness or cupidity ; but that, with perfect and en- 
tire devotion, he served his country with all his heart, 
and with all his soul, and with all his strength; and, 



246 Robert Southey's 

therefore, they loved him as truly and as fervently 
as he loved England. They pressed upon the para- 
pet to gaze after him when his barge pushed off, and 
he was returning their cheers by waving his hat. The 
sentinels, who endeavoured to prevent them from tres- 
passing upon this ground, were wedged among the 
crowd; and an officer, who, not very prudently upon 
such an occasion, ordered them to drive the people 
down with their bayonets, was compelled speedily to 
retreat ; for the people would not be debarred from 
gazing, till the last moment, upon the hero, the darling 
hero of England. 

He arrived off Cadiz on the 29th of September,^ — -his 
birthday. Fearing that, if the enemy knew his force, 
they might be deterred from venturing to sea, he kept 
out of sight of land, desired Collingwood to fire no 
salute and hoist no colours, and wrote to Gibraltar, to 
request that the force of the fleet might not be inserted 
there in the Gazette. His reception in the Mediterra- 
nean fleet was as gratifying as the farewell of his 
countrymen at Portsmouth : the officers, who came on 
board to welcome him, forgot his rank as commander 
in their joy at seeing him again. On the day of his 
arrival, Villeneuve received orders to put to sea the 
first opportunity. Villeneuve, however, hesitated when 
he heard that Nelson had resumed the command. He 
called a council of war; and their determination was, 
that it would not be expedient to leave Cadiz, unless 
they had reason to believe themselves stronger by one- 
third than the British force. In the public measures 
of this country secrecy is seldom practicable, and sel- 
dom attempted : here, however, by the precautions of 
Nelson and the wise measures of the Admiralty, the 
enemy Were for once kept in ignorance; for, as the 
ships appointed to reinforce the Mediterranean fleet 
were despatched singly — each as soon as it was ready 
— their collected number was not stated in the news- 
papers, and their arrival was not known to the enemy. 
But the enemy knew that Ad niiiral Loiiis, with six 



Life of Nelson 247 

sail, had been detached for stores and water to Gib- 
raltar. Accident also contributed to make the French 
admiral doubt whether Nelson himself had actually 
taken the command. An American, lately arrived 
from England, maintained that it was impossible, for 
he had seen him only a few da5's before in London, 
and, at that time, there was no rumour of his going 
again to sea. 

The station which Nelson had chosen was some 
fifty or sixty miles to the west of Cadiz, near Cape 
St. Mary's. At this distance he hoped to decoy the 
enemy out, while he guarded against the danger of 
being caught with a westerly wind near Cadiz, and 
driven within the Straits. The blockade of the port 
was rigorously enforced ; in hopes that the combined 
fleet might be forced to sea by want. The Danish 
vessels, therefore, which were carrying provisions 
from the French ports in the bay, under the name of 
Danish property, to all the little ports from Ayamonte 
to Algeziras, from whence they were conveyed in 
coasting boats to Cadiz, were seized. Without this 
proper exertion of power, the blockade would have 
been rendered nugatory, by the advantage thus taken 
of the neutral flag. The supplies from France were 
thus effectually cut off. There was now every indica- 
tion that the enemy would speedily venture out : 
officers and men were in the highest spirits at the 
prospect of giving them a decisive blow, such, indeed, 
as would put an end to all further contest upon the 
seas. Theatrical amusements were performed every 
evening in most of the ships, and God Save the King 
was the hymn with which the sports concluded. ** I 
verily believe,'* said Nelson (writing on the 6th of 
October), " that the country will soon be put to some 
expense on my account ; either a monument, or a new 
pension and honours ; for I have not the smallest 
doubt but that a very few days, almost hours, will put 
us in battle. The success no man can ensure ; but 
for the fighting them, if they can be got at, I pledge 



248 Robert Southey*s 

myself. — The sooner the better : I don*t like to have 
these things upon my mind.'* 

At this time he was not without some cause of 
anxiety : he was in want of frigates — the eyes of the 
fleet — as he always called them : — to the want of 
which, the enemy before were indebted for their 
escape, and Buonaparte for his arrival in Egypt. He 
had only twenty-three ships — others were on the way 
— but they might come too late; and, though Nelson 
never doubted of victory, mere victory was not what 
he looked to — he wanted to annihilate the enemy's 
fleet. The Carthagena squadron might effect a junc- 
tion with this fleet on the one side; and, on the other, 
it was to be expected that a similar attempt would be 
made by the French from Brest; — in either case, a 
formidable contingency to be apprehended by the 
blockading force. The Rochefort squadron did push 
out, and had nearly caught the Agamemnon and 
VAimahhy in their way to reinforce the British admiral. 
Yet Nelson at this time weakened his own fleet. He 
had the unpleasant task to perform of sending home 
Sir Robert Calder, whose conduct was to be made the 
subject of a court-martial, in consequence of the 
general dissatisfaction which had been felt and ex- 
pressed at his imperfect victory. Sir Robert Calder, 
and Sir John Orde, Nelson believed to be the only two 
enemies whom he had ever had in his profession; — 
and, from that sensitive delicacy which distinguished 
him, this made him the more scrupulously anxious 
to show every possible mark of respect and kindness 
to Sir Robert. He wished to detain him till after 
the expected action ; when the services which he might 
perform, and the triumphant joy which would be ex- 
cited, would leave nothing to be apprehended from an 
inquiry into the previous engagement. Sir Robert, 
however, whose situation was very painful, did not 
choose to delay a trial, from the result of which he 
confidently expected a complete justification : and Nel- 
son, instead of sending him home in a frigate, insisted 



Life of Nelson 249 

on his returning in his own ninety-gun ship, ill as 
such a ship could at that time be spared. Nothing 
could be more honourable than the feeling by which 
Nelson was influenced, but, at such a crisis, it ought 
not to have been indulged. 

On the 9th Nelson sent Collingwood what he called, 
in his diary, the Nelson-touch. ** I send you," said 
he, ** my plan of attack, as far as a man dare venture 
to guess at the very uncertain position the enemy may 
be found in : but it is to place you perfectly at ease 
respecting my intentions, and to give full scope to 
your judgment for carrying them into effect. We 
rtin, my dear Coll, have no little jealousies. We have 
only one great object in view, that of annihilating our 
enemies, and getting a glorious peace for our country. 
No man has more confidence in another than I have 
in you ; and no man will render your services more 
justice than your very old friend Nelson and Bront6." 
The order of sailing was to be the order of battle : the 
fleet in two lines, with an advanced squadron of eight 
of the fastest sailing two-deckers. The second in 
command, having the entire direction of his line, was 
to break through the enemy, about the twelfth ship 
from their rear : he would lead through the centre, and 
the advanced squadron was to cut off three or four 
ahead of the centre. This plan was to be adapted to 
the strength of the enemy, so that they should always 
be one-fourth superior to those whom they cut off. 
Nelson said, ** That his admirals and captains, know- 
ing his precise object to be that of a close and decisive 
action, would supply any deficiency of signals, and act 
accordingly. In case signals cannot be seen or clearly 
understood, no captain can do wrong if he places his 
ship alongside that of an enemy." One of the last 
orders of this admirable man was, that the name and 
family of every officer, seaman, and marine, who might 
be killed or wounded in action, should be, as soon as 
possible, returned to him, in order to be transmitted 
to the chairman of the Patriotic Fund, that the case 



250 Robert Southey s 

might be taken into consideration, for the benefit of 
the sufferer or his family. 

About half-past nine in the morning of the 19th, the 
MarSy being the nearest to the fleet of the ships which 
formed the line of communication with the frigates 
in shore, repeated the signal that the enemy were 
coming out of port. The wind was at this time very 
light, with partial breezes, mostly from the S.S.W. 
Nelson ordered the signal to be made for a chase in 
the south-east quarter. About two, the repeating 
ships announced that the enemy were at sea. All 
night the British fleet continued under all sail, steering 
to the south-east. At daybreak they were in the en- 
trance of the Straits, but the enemy were not in sight. 
About seven, one of the frigates made signal that the 
enemy were bearing north. Upon this the Victory 
hove to; and shortly afterwards Nelson made sail 
again to the northward. In the afternoon the wind 
blew fresh from the south-west, and the English began 
to fear that the foe might be forced to return to port. 
A little before sunset, however, Blackwood, in the 
EuryaluSy telegraphed that they appeared determined 
to go to the westward, — ^** And that," said the admiral 
in his diary, ** they shall not do, if it is in the power of 
Nelson and Bront6 to prevent them.** Nelson had 
signified to Blackwood, that he depended upon him to 
keep sight of the enemy. They were observed so well, 
that all their motions were made known to him ; and, 
as the)'^ wore twice, he inferred that they were aiming 
to keep the port of Cadiz open, and would retreat there 
as soon as they saw the British fleet : for this reason 
he was very careful not to approach near enough to be 
seen by them during the night. At daybreak the com- 
bined fleets were distinctly seen from the Victory's 
deck, formed in a close line of battle ahead, on the 
starboard tack, about twelve miles to leeward, and 
standing: to the south. Our fleet consisted of twenty- 
seven sail of the line and four frigates ; theirs of thirty- 
three, and seven large frigates. Their superiority was 



Life of Nelson . ^51 

greater in size, and weight of metal, than in numbers. 
They had four thousand troops on board ; and the best 
riflemen who could be procured, many of them Ty- 
rolese, were dispersed through the ships. Little did 
the Tyrolese, and little did the Spaniards, at that day, 
imagine what horrors the wicked tyrant whom they 
served was preparing for their country ! 

Soon after daylight Nelson came upon deck. The 
2ist of October was a festival in his family; because 
on that day his uncle, Captain Suckling, in the Dread- 
nought y with two other line of battle ships, had 
beaten off a French squadron of four sail of the line 
and three frigates. Nelson, with that sort of super- 
stition from which few persons are entirely exempt, 
had more than once expressed his persuasion that this 
was to be the day of his battle also ; and he was well 
pleased at seeing his prediction about to be verified. 
The wind was now from the west, — light breezes, with 
a long heavy swell. Signal was made to bear down 
upon the enemy in two lines ; and the fleet set all 
sail. Collingwood, in the Royal Sovereign^ led the 
lee-line of thirteen ships ; the Victory led the weather- 
line of fourteen. Having seen that all was as it should 
be, Nelson retired to his cabin, and wrote this 
prayer : — 

** May the Great God, whom I worship, grant to 
my country, and for the benefit of Europe in general, 
a great and glorious victory ; and may no misconduct 
In any one tarnish it ; and may humanity after vic- 
tory be the predominant feature in the British fleet! 
For myself individually, I commit my life to Him 
that made me, and may His blessing alight on my en- 
deavours for serving my country faithfully ! To Him 
I resign myself, and the just cause which is intrusted 
to me to defend. Amen, Amen, Amen.*' 

Having thus discharged his devotional duties, he 
annexed, in the same diary, the following remarkable 
writing : — 



252 Robert Southey s 



** October 2i5i, 1805. — Then in sight of the combined 
fleets of France and Spain, distant about ten 
miles 

•* Whereas the eminent services of Emma Hamilton, 
widow of the Right Honourable Sir William Hamil- 
ton, have been of the very greatest service to my 
king and country, to my knowledge, without ever 
receiving any reward from either our king or country : 
" First, That she obtained the King of Spain's 
letter, in 1796, to his brother, the King of Naples, 
acquainting him of his intention to declare war against 
England : from which letter the ministry sent out 
orders to the then Sir John Jervis to strike a stroke, 
if opportunity offered, against either the arsenals of 
Spain or her fleets. That neither of these was done 
is not the fault of Lady Hamilton; the opportunity 
might have been offered. 

* * Secondly : The British fleet under my command 
could never have returned the second time to Egypt, 
had not Lady Hamilton's influence with the Queen 
of Naples caused letters to be wrote to the governor of 
Syracuse, that he was to encourage the fleet's being 
supplied with everything, should they put into any 
port in Sicily. We put into Syracuse, and received 
every supply; went to Egypt, and destroyed the 
French fleet. 

'* Could I have rewarded these services, I would not 
now call upon my country; but as that has not been 
in my power, I leave Emma Lady Hamilton, therefore, 
a legacy to my king and country, that they will give 
her an ample provision to maintain her rank in life. 

** I also leave to the beneficence of my country my 
adopted daughter, Horatia Nelson Thompson; and 
I desire she will use in future the name of Nelson only. 

' ' These are the only favours I ask of my king and 
country, at this moment when I am going to fight 
their battle. May God bless my king and country, 



Life of Nelson 253 

and all those I hold dear ! My relations it is needless 
to mention : they will, of course, be amply provided 
for. 

*' Nelson and Bront6." 



Witness J ^^^"^y Blackwood. 
l^ttness I J ^ Hardy.'' 



The child, of whom this writing speaks, was 
believed to be his daughter, and so, indeed, he called 
her the last time that he pronounced her name. She 
was then about five years old, living at Merton, under 
Lady Hamilton's care. The last minutes which Nel- 
son passed at Merton were employed in praying over 
this child as she lay sleeping. A portrait of Lady 
Hamilton hung in his cabin; and no Catholic ever 
beheld the picture of his patron-saint with devouter 
reverence. The undisguised and romantic passion 
with which he regarded it amounted almost to super- 
stition; and when the portrait was now taken down, 
in clearing for action, he desired the men who removed 
it to "take care of his guardian angel." In this 
manner he frequently spoke of it, as if he believed 
there were a virtue in the image. He wore a minia- 
ture of her also next his heart. Blackwood went on 
board the Victory about six. He found him in good 
spirits, but very calm; not in that exhilaration which 
he had felt upon entering into battle at Aboukir and 
Copenhagen; he knew that his own life would be 
particularly aimed at, and seems to have looked for 
death with almost as sure an expectation as for victory. 
His whole attention was fixed upon the enemy. They 
tacked to the northward, and formed their line on the 
larboard tack; thus bringing the shoals of Trafalgar 
and St. Pedro under the lee of the British, and keeping 
the port of Cadiz open for themselves. This was 
judiciously done : and Nelson, aware of all the advan- 
tages which it gave them, made signal to prepare to 
anchor. 

Villeneuve was a skilful seaman ; worthy of serving 



254 Rc^beft Soiathey's 

a bettet master and a better cause. His plan of 
defence was as well conceived, and as origfinal, as the 
plan of attack. He formed the fleet in a double line; 
every alternate ship being about a cable's length to 
windward of her second ahead and astern. Nelson, 
certain of a triumphant issue to the day, asked Black- 
wood what he should consider as a victory. That 
officer answered, that, considering the handsome way 
in which battle was offered by the enemy, their ap- 
parent determination for a fair trial of strength, and 
the situation of the land, he thought it would be a 
glorious result if fourteen were captured. He replied : 
" I shall not be satisfied with less than twenty." Soon 
afterwards he asked him if he did not think there was 
a signal wanting. Captain Blackwood made answer 
that he thought the whole fleet seemed very clearly to 
understand what they were about. These words were 
scarcely spoken before that signal was made, which 
will be remembered as long as the language, or even 
the memory, of England shall endure — -Nelson's last 
signal: — "England expects every man to do his 
duty ! '* It was received throughout the fleet, with 
a shout of answering acclamation, made sublime by 
the spirit which it breathed and the feeling v/hich it 
expressed. "Now," said Lord Nelson, '* I can do 
no more. We must trust to the Great Disposer of 
all events, and the justice of our cause. I thank God 
for this great opportunity of doing my duty." 

He wore that day, as usual^ his admiral's frock 
coat, bearing on the left breast four stars of the 
different orders with which he was invested. Orna- 
ments which rendered him so conspicuous a mark for 
the enemy, were beheld with ominous apprehensions 
by his officers. It was known that there were riflemen 
on board the French ships, and it could not be doubted 
but that his life would be particularly aimed at. They 
communicated their fears to each other j and the sur- 
geon, Mr. Beatty, spoke to the chaplain, Dr. Scott, 
and to Mr. Scott, the public secretary, desiring that 



Life of Nelson 255 

some person would entreat him to change his dress, 
or cover the stars : but they knew that such a request 
would highly displease him. ** In honour I gained 
them," he had said when such a thing had been hinted 
to him formerly, *' and in honour I will die with them. " 
Mr. Beatty, however, would not have been deterred by 
any fear of exciting his displeasure, from speaking to 
him himself upon a subject in which the weal of Eng- 
land as well as the life of Nelson was concerned, but 
he Was ordered from the deck before he could find an 
opportunity. This was a point upon which Nelson's 
officers knew that it was hopeless to remonstrate or 
reason with him; but both Blackwood, and his own 
captain. Hardy, represented to him how advantageous 
to the fleet it would be for him to keep out of action 
as long as possible; and he consented at last to let 
the Leviathan and the Temiraire, which were sailing 
abreast of the Victory^ be ordered to pass ahead. 
Yet even here the last infirmity of this noble mind was 
indulged ; for these ships could not pass ahead if the 
Victory continued to carry all her sail ; and so far was 
Nelson from shortening sail, that it was evident he 
took pleasure in pressing on, and rendering it im- 
possible for them to obey his own orders. A long 
swell was setting into the Bay of Cadiz : our ships, 
crowding all sail, moved majestically before it, with 
light winds from the south-west. The sun shone on 
the sails of the enemy ; and their well-formed line, with 
their numerous three-deckers, made an appearance 
which any other assailants would have thought for- 
midable; but the British sailors only admired the 
beauty and the splendour of the spectacle; and, in 
full confidence of winning what they saw, remarked to 
each other, what a fine sight yonder ships would make 
at Spithead ! 

The French admiral, from the Bucentaure^ beheld 
the new manner in which his enemy was advancing, 
Nelson and Collingwood each leading his line; and, 
pointing them out to his ofl&cers, he is said to have 



256 Robert Southey s 

exclaimed, that such conduct could not fail to be suc- 
cessful. Yet Villeneuve had made his own dispositions 
with the utmost skill, and the fleets under his com- 
mand waited for the attack with perfect coolness. 
Ten minutes before twelve they opened their fire. 
Eight or nine of the ships immediately ahead of the 
Victory y and across her bows, fired single guns at her, 
to ascertain whether she was yet within their range. 
As soon as Nelson perceived that their shot passed 
over him, he desired Blackwood and Captain Prowse, 
of the SiriuSy to repair to their respective frigates; 
and, on their way, to tell all the captains of the line 
of battle ships that he depended on their exertions; 
and that, if by the prescribed mode of attack they 
found it impracticable to get into action immediately, 
they might adopt whatever they thought best, pro- 
vided it led them quickly and closely alongside an 
enemy. As they were standing on the front of the 
poop, Blackwood took him by the hand, saying, he 
hoped soon to return and find him in possession of 
twenty prizes. He replied : ** God bless you, Black- 
wood ! I shall never see you again." 

Nelson's column was steered about two points more 
to the north than Collingwood's, in order to cut off 
the enemy's escape into Cadiz : the lee-line, therefore, 
was first engaged. ** See," cried Nelson, pointing to 
the Royal Sovereign, as she steered right for the 
centre of the enemy's line, cut through it astern of 
the Santa Annay three-decker, and engaged her at the 
muzzle of her guns on the starboard side : ** see how 
that noble fellow, Collingwood, carries his ship into 
action ! " Collingwood, delighted at being first in the 
heat of the fire, and knowing the feelings of his com- 
mander and old friend, turned to his captain, and 
exclaimed, ** Rotherham, what would Nelson give to 
be here ! " Both these brave oflficers, perhaps, at this 
moment thought of Nelson with gratitude, for a cir- 
cumstance which had occurred on the preceding day. 
Admiral Collingwood, with some of the captains, hav- 



Life of Nelson 257 

ing gone on board the Victory to receive instructions, 
Nelson inquired of him where his captain was? and 
was told, in reply, that they were not upon good terms 
with each other. ''Terms!" said Nelson; — *'good 
terms with each other ! " Immediately he sent a boat 
for Captain Rotherham; led him, as soon as he 
arrived, to CoUingwood, and saying, "Look, yonder 
are the enemy ! ' ' bade them * ' shake hands like Eng- 
lishmen. " 

The enemy continued to fire a gun at a time at the 
Victory, till they saw that a shot had passed through 
her main-topgallant-sail; then they opened their 
broadsides, aiming chiefly at her rigging, in the hope 
of disabling her before she could close with them. 
Nelson, as usual, had hoisted several flags, lest one 
should be shot away. The enemy showed no colours 
till late in the action, when they began to feel the 
necessity of having them to strike. For this reason, 
the Santissima Trinidad, Nelson's old acquaintance, 
as he used to call her, was distinguishable only by her 
four decks; and to the bow of this opponent he 
ordered the Victory to be steered. Meantime an 
incessant raking fire was kept up upon the Victory. 
The admiral's secretary was one of the first who fell : 
he was killed by a cannon-shot, while conversing with 
Hardy. Captain Adair, of the marines, with the help 
of a sailor, endeavoured to remove the body from 
Nelson's sight, who had a great regard for Mr. Scott; 
but he anxiously asked, *' Is that poor Scott that's 
gone? " and being informed that it was indeed so, 
exclaimed, "Poor fellow!" Presently a double- 
headed shot struck a party of marines, who were 
drawn up on the poop, and killed eight of them : upon 
which Nelson immediately desired Captain Adair to 
disperse his men round the ship, that they might not 
suffer so much from being together. A few minutes 
afterwards a shot struck the fore brace bits on the 
quarter-deck, and passed between Nelson and Hardy, 
a splinter from the bit tearing off Hardy's buckle and 



258 Robert Southey's 

bruising his foot. Both stopped, and looked anxiously 
at each other, each supposing the other to be wounded. 
Nelson then smiled, and said, "This is too warm 
work, Hardy, to last long." 

The Victory had not yet returned a single gun : 
fifty of her men had been by this time killed or 
wounded, and her main-topmast, with all her studding 
sails and their booms, shot away. Nelson declared 
that, in all his battles, he had seen nothing which sur- 
passed the cool courage of his crew on this occasion. 
At four minutes after twelve she opened her fire 
from both sides of her deck. It was not possible to 
break the enemy's line without running on board one 
of their ships : Hardy informed him of this, and 
asked which he would prefer. Nelson replied : " Take 
your choice. Hardy, it does not signify much." The 
master was then ordered to put the helm to port, and 
the Victory ran on board the RedoutabUy just as her 
tiller ropes were shot away. The French ship received 
her with a broadside; then instantly let down her 
lower-deck ports, for fear of being boarded through 
them, and never afterwards fired a great gun during 
the action. Her tops, like those of all the enemy's 
ships, were filled with riflemen. Nelson never placed 
musketry in his tops ; he had a strong dislike to the 
practice, not merely because it endangers setting fire 
to the sails, but also because it is a murderous sort of 
warfare, by which individuals may suffer, and a com- 
mander, now and then, be picked off, but which never 
can decide the fate of a general engagement. 

Captain Harvey, in the Temeraire, fell on board 
the Redoutahle on the other side. Another enemy 
was in like manner on board the Temeraire : so that 
these four ships formed as compact a tier as if they 
had been moored together, their heads lying all the 
same way. The lieutenants of the Victory , seeing 
this, depressed their guns of the middle and lower 
decks, and fired with a diminished charge, lest the 
shot should pass through, and injure the Temeraire. 



Life of Nelson 259 

And because there was danger that the Redoutahle 
might take fire from the lower-deck guns, the 
muzzles of which touched her side when they were 
run out, the fireman of each gun stood ready with a 
bucket of water, which, as soon as the gun was dis- 
charged, he dashed into the hole made by the shot. 
An incessant fire was kept up from the Victory from 
both sides ; her larboard guns playing upon the 
Bucentaure and the huge Santissima Trinidad. 

It had been part of Nelson's prayer that the British 
fleet might be distinguished by humanity in the vic- 
tory which he expected. Setting an example himself, 
he twice gave orders to cease firing upon the Redout- 
abhy supposing that she had struck, because her great 
guns were silent; for, as she carried no flag, there 
was no means of instantly ascertaining the fact. 
From this ship, which he had thus twice spared, he 
received his death. A ball fired from her mizen-top, 
which, in the then situation of the two vessels, was 
not more than fifteen yards from that part of the 
deck where he was standing, struck the epaulette on 
his left shoulder, — about a quarter after one, just 
in the heat of the action. He fell upon his face, on 
the spot which was covered with his poor secretary's 
blood. Hardy, who was a few steps from him, turn- 
ing round, saw three men raising him up. " They 
have done for me at last, Hardy," said he. "I hope 
not! " cried Hardy. "Yes," he replied; "my back 
bone is shot through." Yet even now, not for a 
moment losing his presence of mind, he observed, 
as they were carrying him down the ladder, that the 
tiller ropes, which had been shot away, were not yet 
replaced, and ordered that new ones should be rove 
immediately : — then, that he might not be seen by the 
crew, he took out his handkerchief, and covered his 
face and his stars. — Had he but concealed these 
badges of honour from the enemy, England, perhaps, 
would not have had cause to receive with sorrow the 
news of the battle of Trafalgar. 



26o Robert Southey s 

The cockpit was crowded with wounded and dying 
men, over whose bodies he was with some difficulty 
conveyed, and laid upon a pallet in the midshipmen's 
berth. It was soon perceived, upon examination, that 
the wound was mortal. This, however, was concealed 
from all, except Captain Hardy, the chaplain, and the 
medical attendants. He himself being- certain, from 
the sensation in his back, and the gush of blood which 
he felt momently within his breast, that no human care 
could avail him, insisted that the surgeon should leave 
him, and attend to those to whom he might be useful : 
*' For," said he, *' you can do nothing for me." All 
that could be done was to fan him with paper, and fre- 
quently to give him lemonade, to alleviate his intense 
thirst. He was in great pain, and expressed much 
anxiety for the event of the action, which now began 
to declare itself. As often as a ship struck the crew 
of the Victory hurraed; and at every hurra a visible 
expression of joy gleamed in the eyes, and marked the 
countenance, of the dying hero. But he became im- 
patient to see Captain Hardy; and as that officer, 
though often sent for, could not leave the deck. Nelson 
feared that some fatal cause prevented him, and 
repeatedly cried : ** Will no one bring Hardy to me? 
He must be killed! He is surely dead ! " — An hour 
and ten minutes elapsed, from the time when Nelson 
received his wound, before Hardy could come to him. 
They shook hands in silence ; Hardy in vain struggling 
to suppress the feelings of that most painful and yet 
sublimest moment. "Well, Hardy," said Nelson, 
*' how goes the day with us? " — ** Very well," replied 
Hardy; ** ten ships have struck, but five of their van 
have tacked, and show an intention of bearing down 
upon the Victory. I have called two or three of our 
fresh ships round, and have no doubt of giving them 
a drubbing." — ** I hope," said Nelson, ** none of our 
ships have struck? " Hardy answered, "There was 
no fear of that." Then, and not till then. Nelson 
spoke of himself. ** I am a dead man, Hardy," said 



Life of Nelson 261 

he; **I am going fast: — it will be all over with me 
soon. Come nearer to me. Let my dear Lady Hamil- 
ton have my hair, and all other things belonging to 
me." Hardy observed, that he hoped Mr. Beatty 
could yet hold out some prospect of life. " Oh no ! " 
he replied; "it is impossible. My back is shot 
through. Beatty will tell you so." Captain Hardy 
then, once more, shook hands with him ; and, with 
a heart almost bursting, hastened upon deck. 

By this time all feeling below the breast was gone, 
and Nelson, having made the surgeon ascertain this, 
said to him : ** You know I am gone. I know it. I 
feel something rising in my breast " — putting his 
hand on his left side — "which tells me so." And 
upon Beatty 's inquiring whether his pain was very 
great, he replied, " So great, that he wished he was 
dead. Yet," said he, in a lower voice, "one would 
like to live a little longer too ! " And after a few 
minutes, in the same under-tone, he added : "What 
would become of poor Lady Hamilton if she knew my 
situation ! " Next to his country she occupied his 
thoughts. Captain Hardy, some fifty minutes after 
he had left the cockpit, returned; and, again taking 
the hand of his dying friend and commander, con- 
gratulated him on having gained a complete victory. 
How many of the enemy were taken he did not know, 
as it was impossible to perceive them distinctly — but 
fourteen or fifteen at least. "That's well," cried 
Nelson; " but I bargained for twenty." And then, in 
a stronger voice, he said, " Anchor, Hardy; anchor.'* 
Hardy, upon this, hinted that Admiral Collingwood 
would take upon himself the direction of affairs. 
" Not while I live, Hardy ! " said the dying Nelson, 
ineffectually endeavouring to raise himself from the 
bed : " do you anchor." His previous order for pre- 
paring to anchor had shown how clearly he foresaw 
the necessity of this. Presently, calling Hardy back, 
he said to him, in a low voice, " Don't throw me 
overboard ' ' ; and he desired that he might be buried 



262 Robert Southey's 

by his parents, unless it should please the king to 
order otherwise. Then, reverting to private feelings : 
** Take care of my dear Lady Hamilton, Hardy; take 
care of poor Lady Hamilton. — Kiss me. Hardy," 
said he. Hardy knelt down, and kissed his cheek : 
and Nelson said, *' Now I am satisfied. Thank God, 
I have done my duty." Hardy stood over him in 
silence for a moment or two, then knelt again, and 
kissed his forehead. ** Who is that? " said Nelson; 
and being informed, he rephed, ** God bless you, 
Hardy." And Hardy then left him — for ever. 

Nelson now desired to be turned upon his right side, 
and said : " I wish I had not left the deck; for I shall 
soon be gone. " Death was, indeed, rapidly approach- 
ing. He said to the chaplain : '* Doctor, I have not 
been a great sinner"; and, after a short pause, 
*' Remember that I leave Lady Hamilton, and my 
daughter Horatia, as a legacy to my country." His 
articulation now became difficult ; but he was distinctly 
heard to say, ** Thank God, I have done my duty ! " 
These words he had repeatedly pronounced ; and they 
were the last words he uttered. He expired at thirty 
minutes after four, — three hours and a quarter after 
he had received his wound. 

Within a quarter of an hour after Nelson was 
wounded, above fifty of the Victory's men fell by the 
enemy's musketry. They, however, on their part, 
were not idle ; and it was not long before there were 
only two Frenchmen left alive in the mizentop of the 
Redoutable. One of them was the man who had 
given the fatal wound : he did not live to boast of 
what he had done. An old quartermaster had seen 
him fire; and easily recognised him, because he wore 
a glazed cocked hat and a white frock. This quarter- 
master, and two midshipmen, Mr. Collingwood and 
Mr. Pollard, were the only persons left on the 
Victory's poop; the two midshipmen kept firing at 
the top, and he supplied them with cartridges. One 



Life of Nelson 263 

of the Frenchmen, attempting to make his escape 
down the rigging, was shot by Mr. Pollard, and fell 
on the poop. But the old quartermaster, as he cried 
out, " That's he, that's he," and pointed at the other, 
who was coming forward to fire again, received a 
shot in his mouth, and fell dead. Both the midship- 
men then fired, at the same time, and the fellow 
dropped in the top. When they took possession of 
the prize, they went into the mizentop, and found him 
dead; with one ball through his head, and another 
through his breast. 

The Redoutahle struck within twenty minutes 
after the fatal shot had been fired from her. During 
that time she had been twice on fire, — in her fore- 
chains and in her forecastle. The French, as they had 
done in other battles, made use, in this, of fireballs 
and other combustibles — implements of destruction 
which other nations, from a sense of honour and 
humanity, have laid aside — which add to the sufferings 
of the wounded, without determining the issue of the 
combat — which none but the cruel would employ, and 
v/hich never can be successful against the brave. 
Once they succeeded in setting fire, from the RedouhU 
able, to some ropes and canvas on the Victory's 
booms. The cry ran through the ship, and reached 
the cockpit; but even this dreadful cr\^ produced no 
confusion : the men displayed that perfect self- 
possession in danger by which English seamen are 
characterised ; they extinguished the flames on board 
their own ship, and then hastened to extinguish them 
in the enemy, by throwing buckets of water from the 
gangway. When the Redoutahle had struck, it was 
not practicable to board her from the Victory ; for, 
though the two ships touched, the upper works of 
both fell in so much, that there was a great space 
between their gangways; and she could not be 
boarded from the lower or middle decks, because her 
ports were down. Some of our men went to 



264 Robert Southey's 

Lieutenant Quilliam, and offered to swim under her 
bows and get up there; but it was thought unfit to 
hazard brave lives in this manner. 

What our men would have done from gallantry, 
some of the crew of the Saniissima Trinidad did to 
save themselves. Unable to stand the tremendous fire 
of the Victory, whose larboard guns played against 
this great four-decker, and not knowing how else to 
escape them, nor where else to betake themselves for 
protection, many of them leapt overboard, and swam 
to the Victory ; and were actually helped up her side 
by the English during the action. The Spaniards 
began the battle with less vivacity than their unworthy 
allies, but they continued it with greater firmness. 
The Argonauta and Bahama were defended till they 
had each lost about four hundred men ; the San Juan 
Nepomuceno lost three hundred and fifty. Often as 
the superiority of British courage has been proved 
against France upon the seas, it was never more 
conspicuous than in this decisive conflict. Five of our 
ships were engaged muzzle to muzzle with five of the 
French. In all five the Frenchmen lowered their 
lower-deck ports, and deserted their guns; while our 
men continued deliberately to load and fire, till they 
had made the victory secure. 

Once, amidst his sufferings, Nelson had expressed 
a wish that he were dead ; but immediately the spirit 
subdued the pains of death, and he wished to live a 
little longer; doubtless that he might hear the com- 
pletion of the victory which he had seen so gloriously 
begun. That consolation — that joy — that triumph, 
was afforded him. He lived to know that the victory 
was decisive; and the last guns which were fired at 
the flying enemy were heard a minute or two before 
he expired. The ships which were thus flying were 
four of the enemy's van, all French, under Rear- 
Admiral Dumanoir. They had borne no part in the 
action; and now, when they were seeking safety in 
flight, they fired not only into the Victory and Royal 



Life of Nelson 265 

Sovereign as they passed, but poured their broadsides 
into the Spanish captured ships; and they were seen 
to back their top-sails, for the purpose of firing with 
more precision. The indignation of the Spaniards at 
this detestable cruelty from their allies, for whom they 
had fought so bravely and so profusely bled, may well 
be conceived. It was such, that when, two days after 
the action, seven of the ships which had escaped into 
Cadiz came out, in hopes of retaking some of the dis- 
abled prizes, the prisoners in the Argonauta, in a 
body, offered their services to the British prize-master» 
to man the guns against any of the French ships : 
saying, that if a Spanish ship came alongside, they 
would quietly go below; but they requested that they 
might be allowed to fight the French, in resentment 
for the murderous usage which they had suffered at 
their hands. Such was their earnestness, and such 
the implicit confidence which could be placed in 
Spanish honour, that the offer was accepted, and they 
were actually stationed at the lower-deck guns. 
Dumanoir and his squadron were not more fortunate 
than the fleet from whose destruction they fled, — they 
fell in with Sir Richard Strachan, who was cruising 
for the Rochefort squadron, and were all taken. In 
the better days of France, if such a crime could then 
have been committed, it would have received an exem- 
plary punishment from the French Government ; under 
Buonaparte, it was sure of impunity, and, perhaps, 
might be thought deserving of reward. But, if the 
Spanish court had been independent, it would have 
become us to have delivered Dumanoir and his cap- 
tains up to Spain, that they might have been brought 
to trial, and hanged in sight of the remains of the 
Spanish fleet. 

The total British loss in the battle of Trafalgar 
amounted to 1,587. Twenty of the enemy struck, — 
unhappily the fleet did not anchor, as Nelson, almost 
with his dying breath, had enjoined, — a gale came on 
from the south-west; some of the prizes went down, 



266 Robert Southey's 



some went on shore; one effected its escape into 
Cadiz; others were destroyed; four only were saved, 
and those by the greatest exertions. The wounded 
Spaniards were sent ashore, an assurance being- given 
that they should not serve till regularly exchanged ; 
and the Spaniards, with a generous feeling, which 
would not, perhaps, have been found in any other 
people, offered the use of their hospitals for our 
wounded, pledging the honour of Spain that they 
should be carefully attended there. When the storm 
after the action drove some of the prizes upon the 
coast, they declared that the English, who were thus 
thrown into their hands, should not be considered as 
prisoners of war; and the Spanish soldiers gave up 
their own beds to their shipwrecked enemies. The 
Spanish vice-admiral, Alava, died of his wounds. 
Villeneuve was sent to England, and permitted to 
return to France. The French Government say that 
he destroyed himself on the way to Paris, dreading 
the consequences of a court-martial ; but there is every 
reason to believe that the tyrant, who never acknow- 
ledged the loss of the battle of Trafalgar, added 
Villeneuve to the numerous victims of his murderous 
policy. 

It is almost superfluous to add that all the honours 
which a grateful country could bestow were heaped 
upon the memory of Nelson. His brother was made 
an earl, with a grant of ;^6,ooo per year; ;^io,ooo 
were voted to each of his sisters; and ;^ioo,ooo for 
the purchase of an estate. A public funeral was 
decreed, and a public monument. Statues and monu- 
ments also were voted by most of our principal cities. 
The leaden coffin, in which he was brought home, 
was cut in pieces, which were distributed as relics of 
Saint Nelson, — so the gunner of the Victory called 
them, — and when, at his interment, his flag was about 
to be lowered into the grave, the sailors who assisted 
at the ceremony, with one accord rent it in pieces, that 
each might preserve a fragment while he lived. 



Life of Nelson 267 

The death of Nelson was felt in England as some- 
thing more than a public calamity : men started at the 
intelligence, and turned pale, as if they had heard of 
the loss of a dear friend. An object of our admiration 
and affection, of our pride and of our hopes, was 
suddenly taken from us; and it seemed as if we had 
never, till then, known how deeply we loved and 
reverenced him. What the country had lost in its 
great naval hero — the greatest of our own, and of all 
former times — was scarcely taken into the account of 
grief. So perfectly, indeed, had he performed his 
part, that the maritime war, after the battle of Trafal- 
gar, was considered at an end ; the fleets of the enemy 
were not merely defeated, but destroyed; new navies 
must be built, and a new race of seamen reared for 
them, before the possibility of their invading our 
shores could again be contemplated. It was not, 
therefore, from any selfish reflection upon the magni- 
tude of our loss that we mourned for him : the general 
sorrow was of a higher character. The people of 
England grieved that funeral ceremonies, public 
monuments, and posthumous rewards, were all which 
they could now bestow upon him, whom the king, the 
legislature, and the nation, would alike have delighted 
to honour ; whom every tongue would have blessed ; 
whose presence in every village through which he 
might have passed would have wakened the church 
bells, have given school-boys a holiday, have drawn 
children from their sports to gaze upon him, and 
*' old men from the chimney corner," to look upon 
Nelson ere they died. The victory of Trafalgar was 
celebrated, indeed, with the usual forms of rejoicing, 
but they were without joy; for such already was the 
glory of the British navy, through Nelson's surpass- 
ing genius, that it scarcely seemed to receive any 
addition from the most signal victory that ever was 
achieved upon the seas; and the destruction of this 
mighty fleet, by which all the maritime schemes of 
France were totally frustrated, hardly appeared to 



268 Life of Nelson 

add to our security or strength ; for, while Nelson was 
living to watch the combined squadrons of the enemy, 
we felt ourselves as secure as now, when they were 
no longer in existence. 

There was reason to suppose from the appearances 
upon opening the body, that, in the course of nature, 
he might have attained, like his father, to a good old 
age. Yet he cannot be said to have fallen pre- 
maturely whose work was done; nor ought he to be 
lamented, who died so full of honours, and at the 
height of human fame. The most triumphant death 
is that of the martyr; the most awful, that of the 
martyred patriot; the most splendid, that of the hero 
in the hour of victory : and if the chariot and the 
horses of fire had been vouchsafed for Nelson's trans- 
lation, he could scarcely have departed in a brighter 
blaze of glory. He has left us, not indeed his mantle 
of inspiration, but a name and an example, which are 
at this hour inspiring hundreds of the youth of Eng- 
land : a name which is our pride, and an example 
which will continue to be our shield and our strength. 
Thus it is that the spirits of the great and the wise 
continue to live and to act after them : verifying, in 
this sense, the language of the old mythologist : 

ToL fiev daifxoves eiai, Aios fxeyaXov 5to $ov\as 
EadXoi, eirixdovioi, <l>v\aKe$ QvriTuv avQpwitwv, 



INDEX 



Aboukir Bay, iti 
Agamemnon, the, 43 
Alava, Vice-Admiral 266 
Albemarle, the, 20 
Alexandria, 107, 11 1 
Allen, 181 

Amiens, Peace of, 218 
Andrews, Lieutenant, 64 
Austria, 125 

Badger, the, 14 

Bahama Keys, 34 

Ball, Captam Sir Alex., 104, 136, 164, 

168, 234 
Barbados, 238 
Bastia, 55 
Beatty, Mr., 254 
Belt, the Great, 214 
Berry, Captain, 88, 105 
Blackwood, Captain, 243, 253, 257 
Boreas, the, 26, 31 
Boulogne, 215 
Bowen, Captain, 93, 97 
Bristol, the, 14 
Bronte, Duke of, 161 
Brueys, Admiral, 11 1 
Bryerly, Mr., 188 
Buonaparte, 78, 171, 214, 227 
Burnham Thorpe, i 

Cadiz, 233, 247 

Ca Ira, the, 63 

Calder, Sir Robert, 240, 242, 248 ' 

Calvi, 59 

Campbell, Rear-Admiral, 230 

Capraja, island of, 80 

Captain, the, 85 

Caraccioli, Prince Francesco, 151 

Carcass, the, 5 

Carlscrona, 208 

Civita Vecchia, 163 

Clarence, William Henry, Duke of, 23, 

34. 38, 42 
Cochrane, Admual, 238 



Cockburn, Captain George, 79, 83 
Collingwood, Admiral Cuthbert, 14, 3*, 

240, 249, 251, 256 
Conn, Captain, 216 
Copenhagen, 177, 185 
Cordova, D. Joseph de, 85 
Cornwallis, Admiral, 20, 242 
Corsica, 46, 61 
Cotgrave, Captain, 216 
Cronenburg Castle, 177, i8i ^ 

Cronstadt, Vice-Admiral, 209 

Dalling, Govern or-General, is 
Darby, Captain H. D. E., 106' 
D'Aubant, General, 56 
Davidson, Alexander, 22, 25, 126 
de Burgh, General, 83 
de Deux Ponts, Count, 24 
Denmark, 175 
Despard, Captain, 17 
d'Estaing, Count, 14, 112 
Digby, Admiral, 23 
Drake, Mr., vi, 68 
Duckworth, Commodore, 144, 155 
Dumanoir, Rear-Admiral, 264 
Dundas, General, 55 

Egypt, 107, 234 
Elephant, the, 180 
Elliot, Sir Gilbert, 54, 80 
Elsineur, 180 

Erskine, Sir J. St. Clair, 163 
Especia, Port, 78 

Farmer, Captain, ii 

Fearney, William, 89 

Finisterre, Cape, 242 

Fischer, Olfert, 204 

Flanders, 215 

Flushing, 215 

Foley, Captain T., 106 

Foote, Captain E. J., 149, 156 

Fox, General, 163 

Freemantle, Captain, 91, 97, 187 



270 



Index 



Gaffori, 49 

Gaieta, 158 

Genoa, 61 

Germaine, Lord George, 15 

Glasgow, the, 14 

Gould, Captain Davidge, 106 

Gozo, 107 

Graham, Captain, 166 

Granada, 238 

Graves, Admiral, 180, 191 

Gravina, Admiral, 237 

Gutierrez, Don, 98 

Hallowkll, Captain B., 106, 121, 163 
Hamilton, Sir William, 44, 221 
Hamilton, Lady, 44, 131, 141, 149, 174, 

219, 221, 24^, 252, 261 
Hardy, Captain, 15a, 186, 257 
Harvey, Captain, 253 
Hawker, Captain, 231 
Helsingburg, 181 
Herbert, Mr., 33, 34 
Hinchinbrook, the, 14 
Hood, Lord, 33 

Hood, Captain Samuel, 98, 10a 
Hotham, Admiral, 61, 65, 72 
Hughes, Admiral Sir R., s6, 29 

Inman, Captain, 192 
Irving, Dr., 5 

/anus, the, iq 

Jervis, Sir John. See St. Vincent, Earl 

Jones, Captain, 216 

Keith, Lord, 148, 155, 159, 169 
Kioge Bay, 212 • 
Koehler, General, 157 

Latona, the, 27 
Latouche, Treville M., 230 
Lawrence, Dr., 172 
Leghorn, 80 
Lindholm, 205 
Linzee, Commodore, 43 
London, Lord Mayor of, 219 
Louis, Admiral T., 106, 15S, 246 
Lowes tqffe, the, 13 
Lutwidge, Captain, 5 

Mack, General, 136 

Macnamara, Captain, 25 

Malta, 136, 164 

Man, Admiral, 66 

Masseredo, 148 

Mecklenburgh-Strelitz, Duke of, aia 

Medusa, 215 

Mejan, citoyen, 156 

Merton, 219, 243 

Middleton, Sir Charles, 36 

Miller, Captain R. W., 85, 106 



Minf-rva, the, 83 

Minorca, 155 

Montego Bay, 14 

Moutray, British Commissioner, af 

Murray, Captain, 188 

Myers, Sir William, 238 

Naples, 129, 132, 150 
Nautic Legion, 171 
Navigation Act, the, 28 
Nelson, Horatio, Lord ; 

Birth and Boyhood, i ; 

Goes to sea, 3 ; 

Voyage to North Pole, s • 

Lieutenant, 13 ; 

Commander, 14; 

Voyage to West Indies, 15 ; 

Enforces Navigation Act, 28 ; 

Marriage, 34 ; 

In Mediterranean, 44 ; 

Acquaintance with Hamiltons, 44 % 

Loses an eye, 60 ; 

Colonel of Marines, 67 ; 

Admiral, 78 ; 

Wounded in arm, 93 ; 

At Egypt, 107 ; 

At Naples, 129; 

Created Duke of Bronte, 161 ; 

Seprirates from Lady Nelson, 174 : 

In Baltic, 175 ; 

Created Viscount, 206 ; 

Commands in Mediterranean, 22a ; 

Chases the French Squadron, 233 ; 

Signal at Trafalgar, 254 ; 

Death, 262 ; 

Desires to leave Service, 4, 37 ; 

Conduct to officers and men, 26, 43, 
91, 125, 222 ; 

Exposes fraudulent practices, 35, 39 , 
Nelson, Lady, 34, 102, 174 
Nelson, Anne, 25 
Nelson, Horatia, 252 
" Nelson-touch," the, 249 
Nisbet, Dr., 34 

Nisbet, Mrs. See Nelson, Lady 
Nisbet, Josiah, 34, 94, 174 
North Walsham, 3 
North Pole, voyage towards, 5 

Oldfield, Captain, 93 

Orde, Sir John, 172, 233, 237, 248 

Paoli, General, 46,^ 50 

Parker, Admiral Sir Hyde, 74, 175, 207 

Parker, Sir Peter, 13 

Parker, Captain, 216, 218 

Paul, Czar, 123, 211, 213 

Peyton, Captain John, 106 

Phjpps, Hon. Captain C. J., 5 

Pignatelli, Prince, 143 

Pigot, Captain, 11 



Index 



27 X 



Pole, Admiral Sir C. M., u, 213 
Prowse, Captain, 256 

Quebec, 22 

Quilliam, Lieutenant, 364 

Racehorse, the, 5 
Raisonnable, the, 3 
Rathbone, Mr. John, 4 
Register Act, 33 
Revel, 207, 211 
Riou, Captain, 1^6, igr 
Robinson, Captain Mark, ss 
Rome, 163 
Rostock, 212 
Rotherham, 256 
Rowley, Captain, 68 
Ruffo, Cardinal, 145 
Russia, 135 

St. Bartholomeo, 17 

St. Fernando de Omoa, 14 

St. Fiorenzo, 54 

St. Kitts, 30 

St. Omer, 25 

St. Petersburgh, 209, an 

St. Pier d'Arena, 79 

St. Remo, 71 

St. Vincent, Cape, 85 

St. Vincent, Earl (Sir John Jcrvis), 77, 

89, I02 

Sandwich, Lord, 5 

San Juan, Fort, 15 

Santa Cruz, 93 

Sardinia, King of, 123, 144 

Saumarez, Sir James, log 

Scherer, 78 

Scott, Mr., 254, 257 

Seahorse,ih&, 11 

Shirley, General Sir James, 29 

Sicily, 144 

Smith, Sir Sidney, 145, 170 

Somerville, Captain, 216 

Spain, 328 

Spanish Navy, 86 

Stewart, Hon. Colonel, 187 

Strachan, Sir Richard, 265 

Stuart, General Sir Charlefi, 59, S44 



Stuart, D. Tacobo, 83 

Suckling, Captain Maurice, i, la, 13 

Sutton, Captain, 81 

Sweden, 175 

Sykes, John, 91 

TcHiTCHAGOF, Admiral, 21a 

Teneriffe, 92 

Theodore, 47 

Theseus, the 90 

Thesiger, Captain Sir F., 106 

Thompson, Captain T. B., 106 

Thompson, Horatia Nelson, 259 

Thurn, Count, 152 

Tobago, 238 

Toulon, 222 

Trafalgar, 257 

Tregoyen, D. Miguel, 91 

Trinidad, 238 

Trowbridge, Captain Sir Thomas i», 

93i 97) 106, 126, 145, ISO 
Tunis, 45 

Turkey, Sultan of, 123 
Tycho Brahd, 181 

Udnev, Mr., 103 

Vado Bay, 6i 
Vanguard, the, 102 
Vansittart, Mr., 176 
Victory, the, 222, 230 
Villemoes, 194, 201 
Villeneuve, Admiral, 235, B53 
Villettes, Lieut.-Colonel, 56 
Vins, General de, 70 

Walden's Island, 8 

Waller, Captain, 97 

Wallis, Lieutenant, 32 

Westcott, Captain G. B., 106, lao 

West Indies, 237 

William Henry, Princo. See Dake of 

Clarence 
Windham, Mr., 138 
Worcester, the, 12 

Yarmouth, 314 

Zante, island of, 163 



TeMpLfe*^ PR€S5 
LeTCHiWOR-TH 




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